The Crystalline Series: The Fenton Apprentice (1)
by Vivalandra
Summary: I ONLY OWN MY PLOTLINE AND MY OCC'S, SO DON'T SAY I'M STEALIN', 'CAUSE I'M NOT! The trilogy of the Fenton's... and a legacy is born. This is the one time I suck at summaries. Sorry, you're just going to have to read. Rated M for strong language, strong violence, rape, drug use and sexual content... 'cause I'm just that naughty. ;)
1. PRELUDE

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Danny Phantom._ © Butch Hartman and Viacom.

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**PRELUDE **

"Push!"

A female voice had called out in a motivating tone. It was not very clear, very blank and toned out, but it was still audible. The moaning and groaning of a woman in pain could be heard throughout the room. She looked around, her vision blurry, but noticing people in white outfits and next to her, a man stood, her husband.

"Come on Sam," the man whispered into her ear, "you can do it."

"Keep pushing Sam," a different man in white who sat near the woman's vaginal area had also encouraged.

The woman continued her effort in pushing, pain shooting throughout her body.

"Her heart rate is increasing. Blood pressure is at 140 over 90. She's still stable though," a nurse explained.

"Keep going Sam," the man's whisper said once again.

The woman felt hot tears scurrying down her face, which was red hot from the blood rushing to her head.

"I see the stomach. The baby's almost out. Push harder Sam."

The woman's emotions sprouted into a full-out panic. She began to pant and cry even harder.

"I can't do it," she shook her head, "I can't."

"Yes, you can, Sammy," her husband whispered to her again. "The baby's almost out."

"Heart rate gradually increasing," one of the nurses called out again.

"Come on Sam. You can do this. You just gotta push a little harder," another snobby nurse said to Sam from where she was standing at Sam's left shoulder.

"I am!" Sam shouted at the prissy nurse and continued to push. She screamed as the pain turned into a tearing as the vaginal opening had split open even more to allow the legs to come through.

"She's about calves now," the doctor gave his update.

"Keep going Sam," her husband assured her. The baby was crying.

"Heart rate and blood pressure dropping."

"Keep going Sam," the doctor said, "but this time, lighter pushes."

Sam obeyed and began to push a little lighter than how she had started to.

Finally, the doctor lifted the baby into Sam's view.

"And we have a girl, everyone," he smiled and set her on the scale to record her weight. "Six pounds and nine ounces."

Sam's head hit the pillow behind her as her eyes watched the ceiling. She watched the fluorescent lights above her until her eyes slid closed.


	2. CHAPTER I

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Danny Phantom._ © Butch Hartman and Viacom.

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**The Crystalline Series **

**Book #1: The Fenton Apprentice**

**CHAPTER I**

_14 YEARS LATER_

The humidity that lingered in the morning air of the spring was incredibly dense, which had cautiously formed dew drops throughout the surfaces residing in the atmosphere. It was not as much of a problem as the sun was, blindingly shining down in the eyes of the human race. Beneath the sun, past the troposphere, in a certain section of the world, a small city had rested among the sights that were to be seen from both near and far. In this city, one house in particular caught the interest of the town's people. In that house lived a man, a woman, and their two kids. But this was no ordinary family. Both of the young children were not full-blooded humans. They were called _hybrids, _humans that share ecto-plasmatic DNA in combination of their regular genetic DNA, thus making them half ghost and half human. One child specifically was the married couple's 14-year-old daughter, Lainey Anne Fenton. Her slightly older, 16-year-old brother, Jason James Fenton, acted as a noble yet still pitifully obnoxious based on his will to protect his younger sister. He was basically anyone's average brother, but had his boundaries, when the need had arisen.

These two kids stood in the basement of their house, shivering slightly at the sudden change in temperature throughout the room. What once had been a fair 74 degrees Fahrenheit had decreased to 49 degrees. Lainey laced her hands around the biceps of her arms, rubbing them as if to use the friction to warm them up. Jason blew hot air into his hands and rubbed them together, his two palms facing each other while performing the action.

The teenaged boy stated carefully, yet in monotone, "Dad's in here."

"Where?" The young girl had asked with slight veracity. Her perception was not entirely acute to the bare situation. She woke up that morning with a slight headache, a stuffy sinus and her eyes were moderately bloodshot. These signs were not taken seriously, as to her opinion was poised upon the humidity in the springtime air. She waved all accusations away.

A hand drifted across the young girl's right shoulder, fingers running softly over the blade. She turned slightly and was met with the visible version of her father in his alter-ego form; a black jumpsuit with the logo of a "D" with a "P" inside of it for his name, Danny Phantom, on his chest, white gloves, boots, waistline belt and hair, green eyes, and tan skin. His children were an exact replica of this, except for the fact that there was no lettering where their chests were.

"You should never be easily taken by surprise," he stated seriously.

These words made Jason turn toward his father as well.

"I'm sorry, Dad," Lainey mumbled.

"I don't want you to be sorry," their father responded, "I want you to be strong and vigilant."

"I know."

"We had no idea," Jason jumped in, "all except for the change in temperature was normal."

"That's the thing about us ghosts. We can sneak up on anyone while along the way the only thing they'll notice rather ominous is the room temperature and the difference between its stability and conclusion of decrease."

"What are we working on today?" Lainey pardoned herself for interrupting.

"We need to begin with being able to control your new power."

Danny raised his hands slightly and began to lift himself into mid-air, hovering over his two children as if he were some kind of ancient oracle and they were the villagers seeking a reading. He gave his daughter a warm smile and used his eyes to send over a mental message, ushering her to commence her training. She lent him a positive nod as radiation surrounded her hands. As she glanced upon them, she squinted slightly, trying her hardest to concentrate.

"What should I practice with?" she questioned fragilely, scanning the room for anything that was never used or of minor importance. She found nothing, until her brother gave her an idea.

"Pick up that chair," Jason pointed at the chair behind him and moved off to the side, giving her some more room to focus. She held her hands out in gesture as if to push someone toward the chair, aiming her ability toward it. She noticed that the legs of the chair began to shake a little, wobbling against the tiled floor. The chair finally picked itself up from the floor and slowly rose into the air. Despite her attempt to really pay attention to what she was doing, she struggled to stabilize the chair once it had worked its way over three feet into the air. Her father could see in her eyes that she was weakening, preparing to let go and call it quits. But he raised his children too tougher than that and to tackle all challenges that were thrown towards them. He was not going to let his daughter throw the towel in before she even took it out.

"Don't give up. You're doing great," Danny quietly motivated her.

Those words made her soul drive to optimism, and she grew ever more bound to her practice. This time, instead of squinting her eyes, when things were beginning to get rough, she closed them, focusing on basic household objects levitating around her. Then, as her arms preformed a haste and convenient shuffle to the left, the sound of metal hitting the floor could be heard bursting in her ears, making her eardrums tremble. She opened her eyelids, returning her sight to the outside world, realizing that the chair was no longer in its place, but halfway across the room.

Her eyesight worked its way back to her father, for she presumed that he would be giving her a dirty look for nearly ruining the ghost hunting equipment, but instead, a wide grin was plastered upon his face. He was… grinning? Why?

"Why are you grinning? I nearly destroyed your lab equipment," she stated awkwardly.

"Because you have just tackled a great challenge brought upon you. No doubt that it will need some improvement, but what you just did clearly shows that you have potential in you to control it."

A blush skittered upon Lainey's face as the compliment, though it took her far by a landslide, was flattering and generous.

"Thank you, Dad."

"Son, let's see what you can do with your ability."

"I would be happy to give you a taste of my skills," Jason gave his father a cocky smile. Lainey rolled her eyes at his horribly ridiculous expression while their father merely laughed. Jason ignited a flame within each of his hands, giving ever more strength to them until they engulfed them.

"What should I hit first?" Jason asked his father to which he pointed at the dummy across the room. Jason stuck his tongue out at his sister, who scoffed at his motive, and he sent two fireballs flailing toward the cotton-stuffed dummy. Each one hit his head and neck, leaving black burn marks in its former presence.

Jason gave a salute to his father. "Mission accomplished."

"I'm impressed, mini-me," Danny stated. "I never actually thought that you'd nail it to be honest."

"Oh Pops, you never really give me enough credit," Jason teased.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get all _uppity_ about making two little fireballs hit a dummy that's standing in _one place._"

"You're right," his son agreed. "I think I should go practice on a bird outside or something."

As he started toward the staircase that led to the upper level, Lainey's eyes grew in shock.

"No!" she cried as she used her powers to move a table in front of the stairway, barricading it and blocking her brother's path. He turned toward her, giving her a slightly angry facial expression.

"What did you do that for?!"

She allowed her arms to fall to her sides as her hands balled into fists. "You will _not_ hurt a poor defenseless animal just for _fun_ or your own sick, little pleasure!"

"Why should you care? It's just an animal."

"Really?" she shot back in astonishment. "People like you are the reason that these animals go extinct. You think you just mess with them or torture them or kill them anytime you want to just because you can, but that isn't the way it works!"

"Dad, do something about her, please."

"She has a point."

"What?!"

"You're not going to just kill something… anything… everything. Killing is distasteful, and murder should never occur to _anything_ unless it's an act of self-defense."

Jason rolled his eyes. It was the same thing yet again, Lainey was sticking up for animal rights. Honestly, Lainey was the outcast of the family. Even though Jason and her came from the same exact people, containing the same DNA as each other (possibly the same blood type), they looked completely different from each other… well, maybe not _completely._ The only thing different from the two of them was their eye color, as Jason's was blue, not too dark or too light, but medium, kind of like the ocean, and Lainey's was heliotrope, or amethyst, which means "purple." Some people discretely contrast their skin tones as well, mentioning that Jason's was slightly tanner than Lainey's, which left Lainey's skin tone to be compared to her mother's, Samantha Elizabeth Fenton; maiden name, Manson.

Samantha and Danny have had nearly perfect chemistry, considering the fact that they met each other in the second grade and had loved each other since then. Then they had finally started dating in the tenth grade all the way through high school and college. After graduation of their senior year at Harvard University, they moved back to Amity Park, where Danny had later on proposed to become engaged with her. When she accepted, they conceived, and Jason was born nine months and ten days later. Then when Jason was two, Sam had gotten pregnant with Lainey, and that was what led to the early marriage between the two young adults. When Danny found out they were having a girl, it was the happiest Sam had ever seen him. Both children had developed their powers early in the womb, but were never really able to control it without the guidance of their father.

And here they were today, stronger than the pillars of their past, developing new powers and growing stronger both physically, spiritually and mentally every day. They've been warned of their father's many past enemies, including Ember, Pariah Darkness, Skulker, Desiree and the many others that he'd fought and beaten in the past, but the one enemy that the kids know more about than anyone else was Vlad Plasmius, his alter-ego name, or Vlad Masters, which was his regular name. He became a hybrid by an accident that occurred in his college years caused by a mini ghost portal. The portal had a malfunction, and struck his upper half, infesting his body with ecto-plasmatic DNA, just like the same thing that happened to Danny. The kids had to know about him; the man was just so twisted. _Sick _wouldn't be much of stretch for the fruit loop; calling him sick would make it seem like there's a cure for his "sickness" when in fact there is none. He and Danny had been after each other since, metaphorically, the dawn of time. He's repentantly fought Vlad over and over (no redundancy intended) in the Ghost Zone, a place in which the spirits of the dead dwell, and in the real realm. Vlad has always had a mad crush on Danny's mother, Maddie Fenton, and has made many attempts to steal her away from Danny's father, Jack Fenton, and take Danny as his half ghost son/apprentice. The man was straight up crazy.

"Guys!" a feminine voice called from the upper level. They heard a pair of light, dainty footsteps shortly before they seen their mother come into view. Her raven hair had grown out to her upper back, compared to when she was a teen; she had it at her shoulders. Her heliotrope eyes were tired and foggy, a clear sign given that she had just woken up about 15 minutes previous, at the minimum. Her pale skin let off a slight glow under the fluorescent lights of the basement. The white nightgown that she was wearing made her look more like an angel than a human. Lainey smiled upon thinking this. She always thought her mom was so beautiful. But even though Lainey looked like a shorter version of her mother, she never felt comfortable in her own skin. She always wished to look exactly like her mother.

"Hi Mom," Lainey lifted her hand and waved.

"Sup Mom," Jason gave a nod of his head.

"Hey guys. I just wanted to let you know that I'll be making breakfast soon, so if you can be considerate and stop destroying things in around 10 minutes?"

"Yeah," Danny nodded. "Thanks Sammy."

Sam froze at the nickname that Danny still called her, and had been for a little over 15 years. Not that she didn't think it was cute, but she felt she was little too old for it. She brought her arms to her chest, crossing them, and giving him a sour look. "You still call me that?"

"Of course I do," Danny agreed, his green eyes lighting up with affection and his laugh pushing out through his mouth. "That's what you are to me; my little Sammy."

"Danny, I'm not little anymore. We have kids now. We're married. We have jobs."

"You always will be my little Sammy to me," he pasted on a warm, heavy-hearted beam.

Sam gave one to him in response and said, "I know," before heading up the staircase and straight into the kitchen afterwards.

"Dad, we have to get ready for school soon," Jason started, just remembering that today was Tuesday.

Lainey looked at the walls around her, searching for a battery operated clock. She found one just above the Ghost Portal that their father had built into the house years ago for safekeeping. The minute hand was lingering over the '9' and the hour hand was steady but edging closer to the '8.'

"It's 7:45," Lainey added. "My school's first bell rings at 8:25. We've been training with each other for about two hours."

"It's 8:35 at Casper High School," Jason recalled.

A simple groan could be heard erupting from their father's throat as his facial expression turned slightly uneasy. This is what he always did when he didn't feel very comfortable about something. It was kind of his way of saying: "Seriously?" With a sharp exhale, the man swooped his hand in a downward motion toward the stare case, his uneasy facial expression moving along with it.

"Go ahead and get ready," he said. "Make sure you eat the breakfast your mother made you too."

"Alright," both kids answered their father in unison before making their way upstairs toward their rooms. Danny scoped the room a little bit before he followed after them. In the corner of the wall adjacent with the one that the Ghost Portal was built into, there was a bug in the corner, but it was no ordinary bug. It was a surveillance bug designed by Vlad to spy up on the family. In the eyes of it were camera lenses, which allowed Vlad to view everything behind a monitor within his home. His hands came together, the fingertips of each finger on both hands touching each other.

"They are getting stronger and stronger every day," he stated amused, "but my eyes are casting more toward the girl."

ZZZ

As the kids paced themselves along, they began to talk to each other to pass the time.

"What use are these powers going to be for anyway?" Lainey asked, examining her hands and staring at them as if they were going to randomly attack her. Ever since she had formed those "stupid powers," as she would call them, and had slowly maintained them over time, they did nothing but cause her trouble. She couldn't be a regular human being with that kind of "gift." Every day, she had to lie to her friends and evade from the truth because every time she thought about telling them, she'd ask herself: "Would you take someone seriously if they rambled on about something like that?" She would never be normal, like every other kid at her school, and she just wasn't okay with that.

"Dad used to tell us the stories of a great hero that protected this town, long before we were born, and even saved the world from an asteroid that was hurling toward Earth. Don't you remember? You used to _love _listening to him tell those stories at nighttime to help you fall asleep."

"I remember," Lainey muttered and shrugged as if it wasn't important, "but that doesn't answer my question."

Jason glanced at her with a look that clearly told her that he thought she was being unbelievable. "That's what we're going to do. We're going to use our powers for the greater good."

"No one in this stupid city needs rescuing," Lainey scowled, "except maybe for a stupid cat stuck in a tree and a stupid burglar that ran off with some stupid woman's purse."

"You just think that everything is stupid, don't you?" her older brother's eyes narrowed.

"I just don't see where these powers are going to get us in life."

"Be grateful for the things that you have that other kids don't, no matter what it is."

"I am!" Lainey snapped and pushed him out of her way, going into her room and sealing it off from the hallway with a slam of her door. Shortly after, Jason heard him mom's voice call to the upper level.

"What was that sound?"

"Lainey slammed her bedroom door. She's kind of mad, but I don't see what she's so frustrated about."

"She better not slam that door again if she doesn't want her hands amputated from her arms."

"I'll pass the message on, Mama," Jason chuckled and started into his room, shutting the door carefully to prevent the same fate coming toward Lainey.

ZZZ

"You've got your backpack?" Sam asked her daughter in a motherly fashion, making sure that she's ready for another day at school.

"Yeah," Lainey exasperated for about the second time, shifting the strap of her black and white _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ backpack on her right shoulder.

"What about your lunchbox?" Sam persisted.

"Yes, Mom."

"And your house keys?"

"Yes… and the next one is just guess, yes," Lainey responded more agitated.

"I'm just checking to make sure, honey," Sam kissed her on her forehead.

"I'll drive her there," Jason offered, grabbing the car keys from the nightstand next to front door. "It's the least I can do."

"Whoa, whoa… hang on a second," Danny ceased him by gently gripping his wrist and guiding it down toward his side, "you don't exactly have a driver's license yet. You're still in driver's ed."

"Dad, I can drive, okay? You've seen me do it before."

"Yes, and you're an excellent driver, but if you get pulled over by a cop and you don't have a license, they'll arrest you and impound the car. We don't have the kind of money to get it back either."

"Danny," Sam began softly.

"No, Sam. He can't drive a car without a license."

"Alright, then what do you propose, smart one?" Jason asked upsettingly.

"I'll drive her," Sam said.

"No, I can," Danny quickly offered.

"How about I just walk?" Lainey asked.

All three family members turned their heads toward the young girl, giving her a certain look.

"It's okay. I'm alright with walking by myself."

"No," Jason rejected, "I would rather drive you then let you walk."

"It's broad daylight outside," Lainey shrugged, opening the door behind her. "I can walk."

Then, Lainey stepped out and shut the door, making her way down the pathway from the house and on the sidewalk, starting towards her school. She looked up at the sky, watching as the clouds rolled by, some jumbling together while doing so. A cardinal flew past her, landing on the metal rod of a fence. The sound of an active lawn mower somewhere in the distance whistled in her ears. She realized it belonged to their neighbor about two houses down, Mr. Donahue. The greeted each other as she continued to walk on. A dog had barked somewhere along the path, but Lainey simply waved it away. She couldn't help but close her eyes a little and inhale the scent of fresh cut grass, embracing the surroundings of nature taking its course. She was always the weird one in the family, not eating meat and caring about animal rights and whatnot, but she didn't care. Her mother always told her that being different was not a problem; it only made you more of an interesting person. Lainey followed that motto like she was reading a book, or humming a tune, or whistling a melody. She fed off of that motto, allowing it to empower her personality, keeping it as strong as the confidence in her spirit.

She was eventually about halfway to the school. All was normal until her ghost sense went off.

"Oh, no," she mumbled, looking around cautiously. But she didn't even see the slightest sight of spiritual or supernatural activity.

Suddenly, an ecto-plasmatic net was thrown over her head, causing her to fall to the ground. Panicked and confused, she fought against it, panting as she worked to rip the strands of rope apart. The rope was nearly indestructible and incredibly strong. They felt as if they were made of titanium, and the more she forced her hands to pull the rope apart, the more she felt her hands would bleed. As she pulled her palms away to examine them, she had noticed blisters beginning to form. Callouses were bubbling up beneath her fingers. She screamed for help, hoping that someone would come in time to hear her. That's when she received an electric shock, which stunned her, completely slowing her heart rate and her need for oxygen. Her panting turned into a slow, unsteady type of breathing. Her vision began to grow blurry to the point where she could barely see her fingers lingering four inches away from her eyes.

In a voice that is just a hint above a whisper, she yet again attempted her cry for help.

"Help me."

Another shock; this time, stronger.

Her body could no longer withstand the trauma being exposed to it. Millions of little stings surged through her veins, wearing her body down, deep into an abyss of painful inflictions and wounds that would sever the strength she had inside to fight.

Stars started dancing in her sight just as her eyelids slid over her pupils, her vision growing dark, cutting off from the outside world.

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**A/N: Hi, guys.**

**So I thought I'd make this on a serious note. I personal think I'm going to make this a saga, but I won't be so recent to update it. It won't be very often. But that's good, because that will make the story as accurate as possible, with little to no grammar/spelling mistakes.**

**Question of the Chapter**

_"What's your favorite horror movie? And if you don't watch horror movies, what's your favorite movie?"_

**PleaseR&R,**

**Vivalandra**


	3. CHAPTER II

**Disclaimer**: I do not own _Danny Phantom._ © Butch Hartman and Viacom.

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** CHAPTER II**

The front door to the Fenton residence opened and closed as Jason stepped through. He walked up to the mirror and examined his ocean blue eyes to make sure they weren't bloodshot. He was, after all, your average teenage boy, who smoked marijuana once in a while. And he wanted to make sure there wasn't a clear sign of that. That's when he continued down the hallway, which led him to the living room. In there, he found two cops sitting on the couch and Danny and Sam were on the loveseat. A worried look was plastered upon Danny's face and Sam was slightly fidgety and on the brink of bursting into tears. One cop was writing something down on a notepad, while another was on a laptop. Jason looked around, growing puzzled more and more by the second… until he realized that he had a secret stash in his closet buried in a tout. His eyes widened when he figured that they were here because of him, but just in case he had his priorities wrong, he played it cool 'til the very end.

"What's, um… what's going on here?" Jason asked.

Sam and Danny's eyes trailed up to him and the cop who was doodling something down in the notepad peeked at him as well.

Danny sighed and unlaced his hands from Sam's, standing before his son. A hand ran through his hair as he shook his head slightly. Jason's eyes darted to his sorrowful mother, who appeared to be very fascinated with the pattern of the rug. She made not a sound. She looked at not a thing. It was almost as if she were a mannequin, only there to make the rest of the room look pretty and decorative. Then the young boy's eyes returned to his fathers, allowing him to begin talking.

"Did you see your sister when you guys were in the schoolyards today?"

"What…? No. No, I didn't."

"Are you sure?"

"I looked around at all the eighth grade girls. I didn't see her face. She's the only one probably _alive_ that has heliotrope colored eyes."

Danny shook his head and turned away.

"Wait, guys," Jason started, "what's going on?"

Sam brought herself to her feet as well, turning toward Jason and gently cupping her hands around the biceps of his arms.

"Jason," she started, tears streaking rapidly down her cheeks, "she never came home."

"What?"

She nodded to lock in her words with truth.

"That's… that's not possible!" Jason was so dumbstruck; he nearly fell on his on butt. His own sister; taken? How? She was just as strong as he was, and just as powerful! She can fight; handle her own! That's how she was made! And now she's gone missing. But who… who could've taken her? A boy from the neighborhood, or perhaps a man? One of their neighbors?

"It is," Danny nodded. "Your sister was strong… but anyone could've gotten their hands on her when she wasn't paying attention."

"_If _she _weren't!_ Why are you guys using the definite tense of said situation?! She couldn't have just been snatched up off the sidewalk! She probably ran away! After all, she did have her problems, especially with you guys!"

He watched as his parent's faces grew grim, staring him down, showing a clear sign that none of this was a joke. It took a while for Jason to register their expressions, and even _then_ it didn't hit him. He realized now that this was no laughing matter. Lainey really was taken.

Jason backed away from his parents as if they had turned into mutant monsters preparing to eat him. "You're lying… you're lying!"

"I wish we were honey," Sam mumbled, her eyes no longer full of life as Jason had always viewed them, but dark and dull, like a stormy day in the season of fall, "I wish we were."

Jason gave them a look that had showed them he was shocked.

"Do you guys have a lead? Do you have anything?"

"The only thing that we can determine," the officer with the laptop started, "is that she most likely disappeared today at around 8:05AM to 8:10AM. No eye witnesses were discovered. And barely any evidence was found."

"Yeah," Jason spat, "tell me something I don't know, asshole!"

"Jason!" Sam scolded him.

"Son," the officer with the notepad got Jason's attention, "you better watch yourself. Wouldn't want to get an offense of assaulting a police officer added to your frequent use of drugs."

"What did you just say?" The teenage boy shot back angrily.

The police officer's facial expression was smug as he looked at the young boy.

"You heard me."

"Yeah, I guess I did. After all, it gets_ real_ hard finding the good kind of drugs these days with you and your donut-eating friends on our asses."

"Jason!" Danny discouraged him.

"You know what," Jason turned toward his parents, but still had his voice high enough for everyone to hear, "yeah, I do smoke marijuana… but that isn't important right now! What's important is finding my damn sister! She could be out there right now, getting tortured, abused…" He gulped when he thought of the next word. He didn't dare say it, he couldn't. He didn't want to jinx anything. Rape; he can't say it.

"Son, under the circumstances, we won't arrest you for smoking an illegal substance. However, don't think we'll drop the subject."

"I bet you and your cop buddies get just as high at the jail. Just shut up and find my sister!"

He turned to storm off into the hallway when his father caught his arm.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm not just going to sit here and allow them to _not _do their job. Working alone will do _nothing! _I've seen what happens on the news when the cops get involved, I know how it ends! While they _search_ for her the old fashion way, I'm taking my part in it too. I'm going to go and search the Ghost Zone."

Two rings appeared at his torso and one of them glided over his upper body while the other went the opposite direction, transforming him into his alter-ego.

"No way, absolutely not."

"Come on, Dad! Don't be ridiculous! Don't you want to find your daughter?"

"I do, but…" Danny sighed, sweeping his hand over his face, "you know that place is off limits to you and your sister."

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"You cower behind something that you've been a part of almost your entire life! You sit there and pretend it's a threat when you and I both know it isn't! You've made it out of the place, what, hundreds of times in one piece, yet you're so fixated on not allowing us in there."

"Son," Danny started.

"No! I've had enough!"

Jason turned intangible and phased through the ground below and into the basement.

"Jason!" Danny cursed under his breath as he called after him and followed. Once he landed, he looked toward the portal to see that Jason had gained authorized access to it using the Fenton DNA handprint scanner. He edged closer to the portal.

"Are you going to join me," Jason asked his father as he turned to face him, tears welling in his ocean blue eyes and face red from his rising blood pressure, "or are you going to chicken out like you always did?"

"I've never chickened out," Danny argued, "and frankly, you aren't one to listen."

"Just because you're scared of the Ghost Zone…"

"I'm NOT scared of the Ghost Zone! I'm scared of my own children _entering_ it! You want to fight with me like this then go ahead!"

"You're so full of it, Dad! Your only daughter could be out there… lost… afraid… and you're sitting here arguing with her fucking brother!"

"Watch your _fucking_ tone," Danny hissed.

"NO! I've had enough of this shit! My sister's out there and you're sitting here like fucking dachshund with his tail between his legs, too scared and useless to do any-fucking-thing!"

"You want to look for her," Danny stomped toward the Fenton computer and signed in, "then _we'll_ look for her, but let's not do anything hasty."

"What the hell are you doing?" Jason raised his hands in confusion, glazing at the screen in confusion. On the monitor, he saw his dad pull up a certain page that would've caught the eye of anyone:

"A ghost-summoning page," Jason mumbled.

"To allow me to digitally contact any ghost in the Ghost Zone that I need to speak to," Danny clarified.

"Sure, but you won't bother to enter the damn place," his son muttered.

"Say another damn thing! I dare you!" his father threatened.

Jason raised his hands up in a defensive way. Danny turned back to the monitor to prevent from losing his edge. He pulled up a file of a ghost with blue skin, red eyes, and an amethyst cloak-hood over his head. Jason's eyes trailed to the top of the page, right on the tab. _Clockwork. _He had apparently been the "master of time," his whole afterlife dedicated to viewing the past, living in the present and investigating the future. He could form his physical appearance into three different generations: a child, an adult and an elderly man.

"What are we going to do with this ghost?"

"We're going to pay him a visit. If anyone knows what happened earlier, then he does."

"But I thought you said we're not going into the Ghost Zone."

"Who said anything about _going in_ to begin with," Danny took his son by the wrist and set his finger upon a button. He then turned back to his son, giving him a small smile, "we're teleporting."

That was when he pushed it, and they disappeared into the computer, leaving nothing in their trace. The lab was empty and as silent as it had been from the very beginning. Almost as if they were never there.

They were never there.

ZZZ

_"Oh, no," she mumbled, looking around cautiously. But she didn't even see the slightest sight of spiritual or supernatural activity._

A rewind of the previous events played back in her head, like a tape recorder stuck on said setting, no way of stopping it, no way of aborting it. She remembered [vaguely] but she remembered. She was walking to school… yeah! That's what she was doing! It was all coming back to her now! That was good. Her brain was slowly trying to piece everything together. She had been walking to school. In the back of her head, she heard the sound of a machine… mowing… lawn… a lawn mower? Yeah! That! And she remembered seeing the person in which the lawn mower was possessed by, one of her friendly neighbors, Mr. Donahue.

Then she continued on down the pavement. What else… what else did she see? Hear? Anything detail before her next surprising encounter? The barking of a dog… yeah, she remembered the barking of a dog. It sounded like a husky based on the pitch of their vocal range, but she wasn't entirely sure. What next? What happened after she heard the dogs bark?

_Suddenly, an ecto-plasmatic net was thrown over her head, causing her to fall to the ground. Panicked and confused, she fought against it, panting as she worked to rip the strands of rope apart. The rope was nearly indestructible and incredibly strong. They felt as if they were made of titanium, and the more she forced her hands to pull the rope apart, the more she felt her hands would bleed. As she pulled her hands away to examine them, she had noticed blisters beginning to form. Callouses were bubbling up beneath her fingers. She screamed for help, hoping that someone would come in time to hear her. That's when she received an electric shock, which stunned her, completely slowing her heart rate and her need for oxygen._

Someone had performed an adequate attempt to capture her and take her to a distinctive place. Where was that place, and who was the master mind behind the ordeal? Someone she knew? A villain or enemy of her fathers? Someone that they [her and Jason] might have battled and beaten before? What did said person want to do with her? It was imperative to remember what happens next. What was it? What happened next?

_Her panting turned into a slow, unsteady type of breathing. Her vision began to grow blurry to the point where she could barely see her fingers lingering four inches away from her eyes. _

_In a voice that is just a hint above a whisper, she yet again attempted her cry for help. _

_"Help me."_

This was dangerous to her body. She could only imagine how _it_ was feeling beneath this reckless shocking and tossing and bruising and cutting. She was not some rag doll to be thrown around, and who was this person to treat her like it?! She couldn't wait to see their face just so she could blast it. Final detail… what was it?

_Another shock; this time, stronger._

_Her body could no longer withstand the trauma being exposed to it. Millions of little stings surged through her veins, wearing her body down, deep into an abyss of painful inflictions and wounds that would sever the strength she had inside to fight._

_Stars started dancing in her sight just as her eyelids slid over her pupils, her vision growing dark, cutting off from the outside world._

Her feeble tries to delay the inevitable, when the adrenaline subsided and the muscles began to die. She was giving up at this point. And closer toward the end, it was as if _all_ of her died. Unbelievable… and just when she thought that she was strong enough.

That was the last thing that she remembered, the last thing that she could recall. Now where was she? All she saw was black. Why? Why did she see black? At first, she thought that her eyes were still closed so she opened them, but the scenery was still black. She felt her eyelids open and close over and over again, but she saw nothing different than what was pitch black. Nothing seemed to work. She _felt_ herself blinking, but there was no visual change. Perhaps something was layered over her eyes to prevent her from seeing the unexpected. So instead of using that one sense, she decided to switch the game plan and use _all _of her senses.

She _heard_ the sound of a furnace. From this realization, she had interpreted that she was probably in a basement or a cellar of some sort. The sound of her breathing flowed through her ears, giving her a clear indication that this wasn't some kind of a dream; she was alive, and her senses were in full activity. She heard her dainty voice quietly whimpering in fear, for she couldn't acknowledge _where_ she was.

She _felt_ the sensation of pressure against her right arm and the cold from the touch of a particular type of floor. She was lying down upon it. It wasn't tile… it wasn't linoleum… and it _definitely_ wasn't carpet, as carpet never really gained or lost thermal energy, therefore never had a specified temperature. But it was most likely… concrete. Yeah, it was certainly concrete. Not the type of concrete that you'd see on sidewalks, but the kind that you'd find underground in basements. When she wiggled her arms, moving her wrists and hands all at once, she felt the bonds that tied them together. The material must have been rope, considering the little hairs she felt tickling the skin beneath her palms. The same result was that of her ankles, feeling them bound together as well. Her right cheek was cold from touching the ground, as was the rest of the right side of her body. Whoever abducted her must've really wanted her for a certain purpose. She took the liberty of pressing her thumb and index finger together as if to make a pair of makeshift tweezers and pinched near her stomach and abdomen to feel for any article of clothing. Thankfully and fortunately, she felt the material resting on her body. She was dressed. That was a blessing.

She _smelled_ humidity, the kind that you'd normally _feel_ outside. But the air was dense with it based on how much of it was being inhaled through her nose. But that was it. That was the only scent that she had smelled.

And now here she was, confused and unaware of what to do. She used her strength and effort to confidently push herself up into a sitting position and guided her hands up toward her face, feeling around her eyes for a blindfold. But there wasn't one. The darkness she was engulfed in was all a part of the _room._

And that's when she heard it, the sound of a generator starting up.

One fluorescent light dangling from the ceiling right above her head turned on, illuminating the environment around her. She could finally see where she _truly _was. Or at least that's what she thought first-hand. For the light did not power itself enough to let off light throughout the _whole room,_ it was enough to shine upon her own skin and the individual area that she was encircled in. Everything else around her remained just as black as before. She looked down at her wrists to see that her interpretation of rope was correct. She fought against it, doing her best to wiggle her wrists from their binds. She also tried gnawing at it with her teeth and rubbing it against the concrete, hoping the friction would allow the material to gain thermal energy and singe it, breaking the rope by its threads, but it was all to no avail. And then she remembered… she had ghost powers! If she did it carefully, _carefully,_ then she could use one of her fingers to ignite a small ghost ray and aim it right at the noose of the rope, completely severing it, and freeing her hands.

So she decided that, even if there was a three-to-one odd of injuring herself, she'd give it a shot.

And just as she had guessed, it worked, with _no_ harmful side-effect.

She did the same to the rope tied around her ankles and turned loose, rising to her feet and looking around.

_There. Now that that's settled… it's time to find out exactly where I am._

…And without a moment too soon too.

As quick as a flash, all lights had turned on, making the young teenager shield her eyes from the harshness of their rays. She had to blink to quickly get her eyes to adjust to the sudden change in her surroundings, but once she had regained her composure, an ecto-ray came hurtling toward her, leaving her little time to react. Luckily, she treated it as if it came from an enemy, and on instinct, she quickly ducked, leaving it to fly off and crash into the wall to her far east. Another one came from behind her and she performed a backflip, changing into her alter-ego while still in mid-air, and levitated once she was turned upright. A few more ecto-rays came from small openings in the wall directly in front of her and she turned intangible, allowing them to pass right through her. Once the coast was clear, she turned tangible and scoped the room, looking for the sources of these threats. Just in time for her to, each of the four walls around her revealed all of the hidden sections inside of them, and all of them, _each and every single one, _all fired ecto-rays straight toward her. She gasped in horror. No matter how flexible, ghostly or vigilant she was, there was _no way_ she would be able to dodge all of that at once, _unless_ she turned intangible. She couldn't do so with all the agility in the _world_ to help her. So she went with her second instinct, perhaps not her best. She ignited her telekinesis abilities within her hands and thrust her arms outward from her sides, halting the flying rays, stopping them from getting any closer to her. And then, with a quick motion and a finale to end it all, she swung her arms down and hurled the ecto-rays to the ground, causing a rumble to chaotically shake the room and the sound of a BOOM echoed, sound waves bouncing off of the walls. The noise was so unbearably loud that it triggered her eardrums to pop. She clasped her hands around her ears to block out the deafening sound and sank to her knees, lying in a fettle position.

The sound of a door opening was the next noise to occupy the room and shortly afterward, footsteps took its place.

"I'm impressed," a male's voice began. "You are even _stronger_ than I had imagined."

Lainey uncovered her ears and returned her gaze upward, gasping as she'd seen where the mysterious voice came from. She had seen him in many pictures. She knows of him by her father and her mother. Plasmius… Vlad Plasmius. His slim figure was still the same as ever. His suit and his slick back gray hair. His turquoise eyes. His white and unwrinkled skin. It appeared as if he hadn't changed a bit compared to the previous pictures that were shown of him in his younger age. Why? Wasn't there some kind of explanation for that?

He was the one who kidnapped her. For what purpose was it? She wasn't entirely sure. The fact of the matter was that he was standing _right in front of her._

_Dad said he was dead! _She began to think to herself as she kicked her feet at the ground, backing herself up against the wall behind her._ Dad said he was hurled into space! Dad said that he didn't survive the incident! Dad… Dad…_

_Dad was wrong._

"My child, there is nothing to be afraid of. I won't hurt you."

"I am _not_ your child!" Lainey spat at the man.

"I see you have the same self-confidence as your father had once had. I'll be sure to treat you with the same respect I had received from him."

"What do you want with me?"

"That's for me to know," he bent down, leaning toward her, "and you to never find out."

"You aren't going to accomplish this undetected. My father will soon know that I am missing. He will soon know that you have gotten your hands on me. And he _will _come for me!"

"Your father will never know where this place is."

"He'll find out! He always does! And if my father can defeat you, then I can!"

"You're adorable child. You know, all those years that I've spent in outer space made me a new person, but I still pester at the same goal. I still rule at chess, I still rule at life and, well, I no longer rule this city, but still, everything I have just isn't enough. It's not what I _want,_ but I'll tell you what I _do_ want. I want my own half ghost child. Clearly, your grandmother, Maddie, will never settle for me, and your father is a man of his own now. It's too late to have them fill in the gap. With all the money in the world, I couldn't get them. But with only a few phone calls and a lot of convincing, I was able to get _you,_ the most prized and special of them all. And now, _you_ will become heiress to my legacy. _You_ will become the prophet of this city. _You_ will forget about the ones you love and how they've loved you. And _you_ shall remain triumphant in my victory."

"All this sounds pretty overrated, especially too distasteful for my pleasurable opinion. I reject _all_ of what that has to offer me."

"That's your _opinion._ Things change when you're brainwashed, don't you think?"

_Brainwashed? What does he mean?_

"Brainwashed? What are you talking about?"

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough."

"You're crazy… let me go!"

Vlad merely ignored her cries and treated them as if they were silent. He put a smirk on his face as he made his way to her while digging in a pocket within his coat. When he stopped in front of her, he grabbed her wrist and quickly cuffed a bracelet around it. A bracelet…? Two beeps indicated that the gauge had locked in. She stepped back in surprise and held her hand up, glancing at her wrist, at the watch, examining it. It looked like the kind of bracelet that military veterans would wear. Unlike those, however, the bands weren't made of leather. They were made of a different kind of material.

"W-what is this? What have you done to me?"

"The two beeps that you had just heard is an indication that the bracelet is officially attached to you. Attempt to take it off in _any way_," he paused while he took out a small remote that was the exact same color as the bracelet and set his finger on a red button, "will result with this."

He pressed the button and in an instant, a wave of electrical currents surged through Lainey's body, making her howl in pain and drop to the ground. Vlad let off the button. Lainey, once she was able to catch her breath, slowly rose to her feet once more.

"What is it… with you… and… electricity?" she asked as she panted.

"That was the lowest setting, 1. I can't imagine how you'll feel once the setting is on 10."

Lainey's panting began to tame down to a slow, steady kind of breathing.

"This device is electronically synced within a certain range of the perimeter of the entire acre. Its purpose serves to inform me of the whereabouts of your actions. You are allowed entrance to every room in the house _except_ for the lab and, of course, my quarters. You may enter the library as often as you like, since you are one fascinated with books, and in there is a piano. If you wish to play it, then so be it. If you move into or near any room that you are not authorized to enter, then you will receive a shock. If you attempt to leave the premises entirely, then you will receive a shock. If you attempt to cut through the bracelet whilst to take it off, you'll, well, you guessed it, receive a shock. Do I make myself clear?"

Lainey looked into the eyes of the man she had before stood over with self-confidence now with fearful eyes. He trapped her… in an instant, a split-second, no time to react… he trapped her! Now what was she going to do?! Better yet, what were Jason and her father going to do once they had showed up?! There's no way to get the bracelet off!

"There's no escape, child. If I were you, I wouldn't fight to suspect otherwise."

And with those words, he turned away, exiting the room and disappearing down the hallway. The door was still wide open, a sign that she was welcome to leave the room she had awaken in. But she didn't feel like moving. She didn't feel like walking. She didn't feel like talking… or thinking… nothing. Instead, she felt like crying, so that's exactly what she did. She shuffled over to the nearest corner and pulled her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and burying her head into them, weeping. Her hardest sobs remained choked up in her throat. She refused to let them out. What was going to happen? And what of her family, will she ever see them again? She didn't even say, "I love you," to either of them. She just walked out the door and never looked back, never even waved. She just walked out… just walked away.

And now she was stranded.

Now she was stuck.

Trapped…

Alone…

Forever.

ZZZ

In a tower that had poor lighting and a Gothic theme to it, a large crystal orb sat at the very back of it. Almost everything was still. Everything was neutral; nothing moved or even made a sound. A small opening of light appeared right in the middle of it and out stepped two hybrids. As they planted their feet on the ground, they dusted themselves off and looked around. The portal behind them closed.

Jason seemed rather fascinated at what he had seen. So much agriculture was built into the tower. The theme was dark, yet majestic. Lainey would love it if she were there to see it.

Lainey…

Her name played at Jason's lips. He almost grew teary-eyed yet again thinking over her. But now was not the time to cry over his sister. If he wanted her back, he would have to look for her.

Danny cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Clockwork? I need to talk to you!"

Jason continued to investigate the new surroundings, taking in everything. He even looked at the ceiling, the floor, the walls; he wanted to memorize everything. After all, he didn't even know if he'd be back or even _when_, for that matter.

Danny called out again. "Clockwork!"

Suddenly, a ghost in a purple cloak appeared before the adult hybrid, hovering gracefully, a staff with a clock at the very top in his hand. He eyed the hybrid, staring at him, scanning his face. At first he didn't seem to recognize him, taking from the fact that he had aged, and his facial features had changed slightly. But then as Clockwork looked closer, he saw him, the real him. Danny Phantom.

"Ah, Daniel, I was wondering when you'd seek my help again."

Jason looked at the icy blue ghost, seeing his red eyes, the black scar on his face. He couldn't help but think that Clockwork was evil based on his eye color, but considering the fact that he wasn't attacking them, he figured he was a mediocre kind of guy.

"I'm sorry that I burden you with errands and tasks, but this time… it couldn't be more important. I'm here because –."

"I know why you're here," Clockwork interrupted. "I've always known."

"Can you help us?" Jason asked him. "Please, I just want to find my sister."

"I'll tell you the same thing that I've told your father years ago. I can have you view the past, but if you dare attempt to _change it,_ you'll be meddling in the time stream, and _that,_ my boy, is a consequence no dire than any other."

"Meddling in the time stream? What does that mean?"

"Picture a car on a highway," Clockwork began to explain. Jason closed his eyes and prepared to listen. "The person driving that car is no ordinary man, he is a criminal. He stole the car, and now he is speeding down the highway in it. And when I say _speeding,_ I mean he is driving at a speed that puts his life _and_ many others' on the line. Pretty dangerous when you look at it first-hand, right? Do you have that image in your head?"

"Yes," Jason nodded.

"Good. Now take the criminal and replace him with a cop… the picture changes, doesn't it?"

"Yes."  
"Now, if a criminal were to be driving a car, what would be your first interpretation?"

"He's using it to possibly cause a car wreck."

"When a cop is driving the car, what is your interpretation?"

"Anything but _that,_ that's for sure." Jason then opened his eyes. "Wait a minute… how is this relevant to your explanation?"

"Perhaps a different demonstration will give you a more crystalline idea," Clockwork sighed. "Say that a girl is walking to school. On the pavement ahead of her is a chewed up piece of gum. But of course, many fail to recognize its presence and they step on it. Now the sole of her shoe is covered in the sticky substance and she'll feel a weird sensation on that one foot every time she takes a step. Then once she gets to school, she'll go to the bathroom, try her greatest to get the gum off of the bottom of her shoe, and try to live out the rest of the day normally."

Clockwork changed his form into an elderly man.

"Now, rewind all the way back to right before she steps on the gum and pause time. If I were to throw you in there and have you pick up that gum off of the sidewalk right before she steps in it and then take you back _out_ of the time stream and un-pause time, she'll take a step and it will turn out as every other step she had taken to get there, normal. That's how she'll get to school, normally. Changing the past can have severe consequences. It can make the future become something you fear."

His form then changed back to an adult.

"Your father learned that lesson the hard way. Luckily, I was there to save him from his damaged fate. I assume you'll take the mistakes that he's made and turn them into lessons that you will follow."

"I get it now. Meddling with the time stream merely means tampering with the past and then it setting off a chain of events. But that varies on the decision that you make."

"Exactly."

"We promise not to meddle," Danny swore, "but we really want to know who took her."

Clockwork's form returned to that of a child as held up his staff, matching the height of his crystal ball, and soon they'd seen Lainey walking down the sidewalk inside of it.

"There she is, right before the abduction."

Jason couldn't believe his eyes.

But nonetheless, he saw that it still was his sister. She was even in the same outfit that she had left the house with. Her backpack was dangling loosely from her shoulder and she began to look up and close her eyes. She was smiling.

"Lainey," Danny whispered as he stepped closer to the crystal ball. Jason only stared, while Clockwork's eyes darted back in forth from the two male hybrids. No sooner than when they had looked, a net was thrown into view, right on top of Lainey, and she fell to the ground and struggled to get out of it. A white spark surged through the green threading of the ecto-plasmatic net and shocked her. She screamed in pain as she stopped fighting to escape. Her shrieks rang in Jason and Danny's ears. It made them devastated. How could something like this happen and go unnoticed? Surely _someone_ was around to see that this was happening. A second shock flowed through. She was slipping into darkness, amethyst eyes growing weary, beginning to close. And then, a second later, she was gone, passed out on the sidewalk. A ghost flew into view and effortlessly pulled the net from on top of the unconscious girl. The metallic skin with bolts to hold it all together, green hair on top of his metal head, green eyes… it all seemed familiar to Danny.

"Skulker," he growled.

"Who?" Jason turned toward his father.

"I haven't seen that son of a bitch since I was around your age. What would he want with Lainey?"

"It appears that Skulker is not in this operation alone," Clockwork started. "It seems that an old _friend_ has come to pay a visit."

"An old friend," Danny repeated. "Who?"

Clockwork held his staff up to the ball once more and the time stream changed to that of outside of a hidden warehouse. Skulker landed the elastic strands of the net which held the young girl in his hand. He set the net down and knocked on the front door to the warehouse. The scene was dull. The sky was dark. And then the door opened. Plasmius stepped through it, in his alter-ego form, his fangs showing, lips pulled apart, teeth showing.

At the sight of him, Danny's eyes lit with anger, his lips forming into a nasty sneer.

"Shit, Plasmius… I thought he was dead."

"Dad," Jason turned to his father, utterly confused, "you said that Vlad died in outer space. You said that he was hit by a meteor."

"No. I said I _thought,_ but wasn't _sure."_

"He is looking to achieve the same goal," Clockwork informed, "to make the perfect genuine breed of a half ghost child."

"Dad is a… man?"

"And your grandmother is much too old in her age to go to him. He's given up on both of you, and he's switched his tactic to the most precious of them all: your sister and Danny's only daughter, Lainey Anne Fenton, a.k.a. Lainey Phantom."

Steam was practically rising from the top of Danny's head. His breath immediately grew denser. It was heavy.

"Dad?"

"We _need_ to find that warehouse, now."

"Dad, what's going on? What is he going to do to her?"

Danny drew a breath, seeing that his son was unaware of the events that happened to Danny at Lainey's age. Once he was able to calm himself, he set each of his hands on his son's shoulders, looking into his eyes, asking for full cooperation.

"When I was Lainey's age," he started, "Vlad tried to push his way into a relationship with my mother, your grandmother, Maddie. At the same time, he also tried to make me his half ghost son. He was trying to get Grandpa Jack out of the picture completely… but luckily, I _always_ saw past that man. I knew his plan. Many, many times, he has tried to persuade me. He always tried to convince me that it was the right thing to do. But he _never_ tricked me. So instead, he used my DNA and attempted to clone me. That's how your Aunt Dani came along."

"I have an aunt named Dani?" the young hybrid raised an eyebrow.

"It's a long story. Let's just say she's a different, female, younger version of me. Anyway, Dani also soon learned that Vlad only sought to manipulate her, so she escaped, and ran when she could. But now he's alone, though he's still got the technology to do it all over again. But as I see now, that's not what he's looking to accomplish. He took Lainey because…"

He stopped and took a short breath.

"He's going to brainwash her into becoming his accomplice… and he'll use her slightly unstable powers for mass destruction."

Jason stepped back in shock, shaking his head. His own sister… a doll on strings?

"If he achieves this, she'll forget about _everything._ Her life… her family… her friends… she'll _only_ be focusing on the death of many others. Vlad will start with this town, our hometown, Amity Park, and destroy everyone here, including you and me, your mother, and everyone else. Then, they'll move to another city, and then keep going until all cities are barren. Then he'll spread out of the state and into another, and he'll keep going until the _whole nation_ is under his control. And then he'll use the last of Lainey's powers to destroy the world."

"No… no!"

"I'm sorry, son."

Jason could see red. Sweat started dripping from his face, his chest, his back, and flooded to the south of his body. His hands clenched into fists. He dropped to his knees and slammed them against the ground.

"NO!"

The slight and sudden action has stunned Danny and Clockwork. Their faces turned to his in concern. Jason looked up, and Danny felt as if he were looking into the eyes of a monster. Vengeance does a lot to a person; turns them into something they never thought they'd become.

"We're _going_ to stop him… I won't let that happen to my sister!"

Danny gave him a small smile, reaching down to assist him to his feet. Jason crawled up, staggering as he tried to regain his composure. He looked into his father's eyes. He needed hope.

"That's the spirit," Danny told him blankly.

* * *

**A/N: Question of the Chapter!**

_"What is your favorite hobby?"_

**PleaseR**&**R,**

**Vivalandra**


	4. CHAPTER III

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Danny Phantom._ © Butch Hartman and Viacom.

* * *

**CHAPTER III**

It had been only a week since Lainey was taken. Already, she could feel herself breaking. The man she was residing in the same house with was a madman. Clearly, he was capable of killing her in her sleep. She'd figured that was what he wanted. So… why hasn't he done it? By this time, she wished that he would. She was enduring _pure torture._ He is giving her _everything_ that she's wanted and _never_ had… why? This man is evil! This man has attempted to slaughter her father 20-some years prior! And now all of a sudden, out of the blue, she wakes up in his presence. Something here was not right… she could feel it.

Every time she got out of bed, tried and groggy, and stood to her feet, preparing to dress herself, she could feel eyes on her. Whether it was his or if it was a camera lens, she _felt_ that SOMETHING was there. She couldn't eat any food without worrying if he had poisoned it or not. She could never shower comfortably… she couldn't do anything. She felt as if she had _no_ privacy… _no_ safety. She wanted to kill herself.

And these thoughts are what caused her to stand before the hanging noose in her closet, a chair to stand on right underneath it. A shiver drove itself down her spine as she drew a long breath. Her eyes were closed as she daydreamed the flashbacks of the events in her life: spending time with her brother, ghost fighting with him, training with her father and being an average, everyday teenager with her mother. When she opened her eyes, a tear streamed down her right cheek. She didn't want to let go; she never wanted to let go. But she would rather have put herself out of her own misery than to stay under the jurisdiction of a psychopath without the possibility of emancipation. Just when she thought she'd have the guts to just jump on the chair, lace the noose around her neck and kick the chair out from beneath her, she hesitated, having her second thoughts. Then, she broke down in sobs.

_What is the matter with me?!_ She thought to herself as she collapsed to the ground. _I'm __**not**__ going to stay here, under his control! I'm DOING this!_

She brought herself up from the carpet and stared at the noose once more. Then, she stepped toward the chair and placed her right foot on the seat of it, hoisting herself into a standing position atop it. She gently pinched her fingers around the thin layer of the material, grasping her hands around it and carefully matching it with the height of her neck. She craned her neck, preparing it, slowly lowering the noose to the top of her head. Just before the rope even _grazed_ her scalp, an electric shock surged through her body. She screamed in pain and shoved the noose aside, falling from the chair, out of the closet and to the carpet below, digging her nails into it. The shocks subsided and she gasped, finally able to catch a breath.

_He won't let me… he won't let me commit suicide._

Above her, built into the ceiling, an intercom was on standby. The sound of static erupted from it and a few seconds later, Vlad's voice could be heard coming through it.

_"Come, child. Visit me in the dining room."_

"What makes you think that I should?!" she snapped at him.

_"I just saved your life, and you're repaying me by nipping at me."_

"I didn't _want _to be saved! Don't you understand that?!"

_"You are worth a lot; to me and to your family. I'd be damned if I let you throw your life away before it's even begun."_

"Fuck you! I hate you! Take me back to my father, NOW!"

_"I told you. You will never see your family ever again. You belong to me now. The dining room, join me."_

Before she could respond to him whatsoever, the intercom turned off. She decided the rejecting wouldn't do any good; he'd come for her either way. So she stood to her feet and took a few deep breaths to stop from getting dizzy. Then when she could see straight and her vision no longer shuffled, she made her way to the door, stepped through it and started toward the dining room.

ZZZ

"I… I can't believe Vlad…"

Sam was sobbing softly with Jason and Danny sitting on the couch by her side. Danielle, Danny's cousin, was sitting on the loveseat across from them. Two FBI officers were in the dining room just cut-off with the living room, viewing the technological software, hoping to use some clues as to the whereabouts of Lainey's location. Danny didn't _want_ to bring the bureau into this, but he figured that only Jason and he seeking to find Lainey would take forever. They had to have had some help from others. So Danny called Dani, who was residing somewhere else in New York, and she flew to Amity Park and together, all three of them scoped all throughout the town, looking for the warehouse that they had seen in Clockwork's crystal ball. But try as they did, they found not a trace. They figured that this warehouse wasn't anywhere in the city. It _had_ to have been out of state. So they called the FBI, but neglected to assure them of Lainey's _gift._ Danny didn't want to make the officers think that he was crazy, whether they knew of Danny Phantom or not. So they treated her as if she were a regular girl, abducted and taken away from her hometown.

"We'll find the son of a bitch Mom, I promise," Jason mumbled.

"Sam," Danny tried to reassure her, "Lainey is a strong fighter, if not physically, then emotionally. Vlad can't break her down, I know it."

"What if…?" her voice trailed off, "what if he rapes her, Danny? What then?"

"Please don't think like that Sam," Dani said. "It _won't_ happen. We'll find out where Vlad is."

"But _what if_ it does happen?! What if he really does rape her?! What if… what if she ends up _pregnant?!"_

"Mom, please!" Jason ceased her panicking. In his voice, Danny heard fear. "Please stop… I can't have that image in my head."

"I'm sorry, baby. I didn't mean to throw out negative thoughts."

"It's okay, Mom. Just keep your head up. We'll find Lainey, I promise."

On the outside, Jason tried to be the second man in the house and did his best to keep others optimistic. But on the inside, he himself was boiling. He couldn't wait to get his hands on Vlad just so he could rip his heart out. He had even dreamt that previous night about hanging Vlad by the neck, blood flooding from his eyes, with Jason standing beneath him, laughing maniacally.

_I swear to God,_ Jason thought in bitter hatred, _if he so much as lays a __**finger**__ on my sister, I grab his ball sack, cut it off and shove it down his throat._

"We can't seem to track anything based on this little piece of equipment we recovered from your basement," the FBI officer with short, choppy brown hair and hazel eyes explained to everyone else. And by _little piece of equipment,_ he meant the Vlad Spy Fly that they found in the upper corner of the basement. They were going to see if they could use _that_ device's wire to track Vlad's location using the "track-and-trace" equipment.

"What do you mean?" Jason asked him.

"Well, we may need something else that could assist us," the other officer responded, his blue eyes locking onto his.

"Like what?" Dani asked.

"Like a telephone landline or a surveillance camera."

"He's never called," Sam whispered, "and we don't have surveillance footage."

Dani's look softened a tad bit, a sudden thought popping into her mind, like a light bulb flicking on in her head. She mumbled, saying her next words more to herself than to the others. "I know where Vlad could be keeping her."

"What was that?" Jason replied. "What did you say, Aunt Dani?"

"I said I know where Vlad could be keeping her. I know my… him. He's… he's got weird taste in locations. You said that Clockwork… I mean… _Calvin_ had seen _Sullivan_ outside of a warehouse?" She saved herself, darting her eyes at the officers, who were giving her suspicious look. She refocused on her cousin and her nephew.

_"Sullivan_ had, in his hands, my sister in a net," Jason said, "and he gave her to Vlad, who was just coming out of the entrance door to a warehouse. But it didn't have sign or anything. We don't know where it is."

"Do you think Vlad could be keeping Lainey there?"

"No," Dani shook her head, bringing herself to her feet. "He's… I mean… I _think_ he's way more complex than that. I think he wouldn't just use _one_ public place to seal the deal, I think he'd use two… or maybe three."

"So what you're saying," Sam rephrased, "is that he could be using the warehouse as a decoy? To throw us off from where they're _really _located?"

"Yeah, actually, that's exactly what I'm saying."

"Vlad is a more conservative kind of guy. He wouldn't do anything that attracts attention."

"Which is _why_ he'd probably use more than one place."

"Well, someone's got to know to know that he's using all of these properties," Jason shrugged.

"Not unless he's doing it illegally. He _is,_ after all, a _special_ kind of guy."

"Is there something here that you all aren't telling us?" the officer brushed his brown hair back.

"No," Danny shook his head, completely fibbing about the answer to said question.

The officers narrowed their eyes, sending each other mental messages. Clearly they were secretly discussing the expression that Danny had behind his voice, which held many lies. They decided that, for the sake of time and sanity, they would ask one last time.

"Now, we're going to ask you again, and this time, could you tell us the answer with a little more… truth." Danny sighed, knowing that he could no longer hide the truth. He decided to tell them _everything,_ from the time that Vlad became a hybrid to the time when Danny did to becoming the town's heroin to the time when Sam and he had conceived Jason and Lainey, which gave them their _gifts._ Figuring that they would shoot him a crazy glance, he looked down in desperation, silently praying that they would believe him and wouldn't send him to Bedlam. After a few moments of utter silence, his gaze fell upon them, and the two officers sat there, trying to soak everything in. One of them had a rare look on his face, as if he was trying to fill in the gaps. He seemed to believe everything that Danny was saying, in fact, he seemed to have actually _trusted_ it.

"Danny Phantom… yeah, I've heard of you before. You saved the world from the asteroid. You're a hero, man, a true hero. If it weren't for you and the other ghosts from the Ghost Zone, my daughter wouldn't have lived to see today. Thank you… it's such an honor to meet you."

"I'm glad you don't think I'm crazy," Danny breathed, smiling.

"I don't think you're crazy at all," the officer shook his head.

Danny looked over at Sam, Dani and Jason, who all had faces that were contained with relief.

"Now that we know what is what, you mind telling us the _real_ story… the _real_ names," the second officer had stated enthusiastically.

"The man that warned us," Jason began, "his name was _Clockwork, _the master of time. He's the one who told us who took Lainey and where. _Skulker _is the one that had her in a net. Vlad… well, we weren't lying about him. That's it. Now, Vlad is actually my Aunt Dani's-," he pointed at Dani, "father. She was created by some cloning equipment that Vlad had manufactured himself. The DNA came from my father, so technically, that makes them cousins, if not brother and sister. Bear with me," Jason held his hands up, "I know that this is a lot to take in, but it's no joke. Dani didn't _want_ to mention that Vlad was her father because she didn't want anyone to think that they were one in the same and that she somehow had something to do with the conspiracy. She doesn't, in fact, she _despises _her father. He tried to do the same to her that he's planning on doing to Lainey: brainwashing her into thinking that an ultimate massacre is the right way to go. That's why she ran away from him. She set herself free so that she didn't have to stay in imprisonment forever. Which leads us all the way up to now; Vlad is going to use my sister as his accomplice, forcibly."

The two officers were slightly puzzled, but were able to wrap their brain around the situation. The teenage boy was right when he said that it was a lot to take in, but here the officers stood, attempting to take in everything that the boy was saying. It only took but a few minutes until they got down to business.

"I… I think I understand," the first officer mumbled. It took him a while to sink everything in, but once he had, it was clear to him: they had a girl to find. "I'm willing to help you in any way that I can, because of my daughter. I know how I'd feel if someone had taken her."

He extended his hand to Danny, who had greatly welcomed it. The officer winked at him as he said: "I'm Agent Larson and this is my partner, Agent Ross. We are here to aid in the investigation in finding your daughter as soon as possible… and we have a lot of work to do."

* * *

**A/N: Question of the Chapter!**

_"What is the most disgusting thing you've ever seen?"_

**PleaseR&R,**

**Vivalandra**


	5. CHAPTER IV

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Danny Phantom._ © Butch Hartman and Viacom.

* * *

**CHAPTER IV**

A week turned into a week and a half since Lainey had been incarcerated in Vlad's imprisonment. She had wondered if Jason and her father would _ever_ come to rescue her. But with every passing day, she was losing hope. Of course, she never had a doubt about them loving her, but she feared that they would never find her, maybe that they would never know where she was being held. She would do things to preoccupy her mind to which she never had to think of what Vlad might do to her in the future. Certain things involved writing, reading, playing the piano and so on, basic things that she had enjoyed doing at home. For a while, they had kept her a bay, but as time went on, she slipped more and more into doubt. She would pace the room, stay up all night and day, getting minimal amount of sleep, but it was all no use. She was tinkering on the brink of her psychological annihilation, delaying the inevitable. She couldn't escape Vlad's imprisonment even if she had tried, and she hadn't even tried! She thought up _everything_ in her head. The use of her ghost powers would give her a shock, attempting suicide would give her a shock, trying to take it off would give her a shock. She couldn't do it. She needed help, and not in a mental way either.

_I can't get out,_ she would think to herself, practically hearing her voice echo in her head, _I can't do this. I need help. Oh, Jason…Dad… where are you? Or better still, what can I do to help myself? There's gotta be something I can do!_

But all of this thinking only made her head hurt. It gained not an ounce of progress in aiding her escape. A throbbing head and calloused hands, a burn on her ankle and a bleeding heart, the ingredients of a thinking teenager, trying to find a way to escape. But that was just it: she couldn't! All she could do was sit on her bed and cry, go to the private studies and read or play the piano, eat dinner in the dining room, lie in the bathtub of her bathroom, which was a lead off of the bedroom, and glance out the window at the spring weather outside, longing to thrive in it. She sighed as she sank to the ground.

_It's no use, _she thought. _I'm never going to get out of here…_

ZZZ

The FBI agents had only been at the house for a few days and still there was no sign or no lead as to the whereabouts of Vlad and Lainey. They did their best with what little that they had, but so far, it had led to nothing. Jason and Dani had flown in the Ghost Zone together, asking around for Lainey, even to the ghosts such as Ember and Kitty, but they've received "no's". Danny and Sam decided to call Jazz Fenton, Danny's older sister, and Tucker Foley, Danny and Sam's high school best friend, for help, but even united, all of them found not a single hint of the still missing and disappeared young girl. It's as if Lainey had vanished in thin air and Vlad had joined her.

Agent Ross and Agent Larson did their best, and even called in a little bit of back up, such as a tech-team, to help them out. Tucker hosted speeches, asking the citizens of Amity Park if they had seen Vlad or Skulker fly off with Lainey. Sam, Jason, Danny and Dani all hung up missing posters on telephone poles and such other places related for the search of Danny and Sam's daughter. Day by day, both the group and the officers were beginning to lose hope. The officers and the tech-team have even admitted that this was the hardest case to deal with in the history of any other kind of missing person's case. Every night, Danny would console his sorrowful wife, who would weep her make-up off of her face thinking of where their child was, and even a few tears would trail down his cheeks as well. Dani refused to leave; Jazz and Tucker stayed in touch. Jason had started to smoke more and more weed to take the aching pain away, but he knew that he couldn't _smoke away_ his stress and his problems. He knew that it wasn't going to bring Lainey home, but he loved the feeling that blunts gave him.

Time began to rot away. These days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into a month. Nothing new was surfacing. Nothing was changing.

Lainey was still gone.

On the other hand, Lainey was continuing her ordinary routine. Get up in the morning, shower, eat (or try to), brush her teeth, sing a tune while making her bed, read a book, play the piano, read a different book (and by then, lunch time will have arrived), eat lunch, run around the "prison", read some more, paint, play a little bit more piano, began writing in her journal, eat dinner, brush her teeth and go to sleep. One thing, however, did remain a little out of the ordinary. She had often questioned why Vlad had not been around as normally as he had been from the start. For the past few weeks previous, he had been stranded in his basement. Sometimes he'd be down there for hours even, and he'd never allow Lainey to even _peek_ at what he was doing. He would always tell her it wasn't her business and to "go somewhere else". Even as she lie in bed, forcing her eyes shut, the noises still dinged in her ears:

_Clink, clink, _THUNK! _Clink, clink, _THUNK!

He was building something… or fixing it. She could tell that it was one or the other. Heck, maybe it was even both.

Whichever the case may be, she was going to find out what was going on, one way or another.

* * *

**A/N: Question of the Chapter!**

_"What method do you use to fall asleep at night?" _

**PleaseR&R,**

**Vivalandra**


	6. CHAPTER V

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Danny Phantom. © Butch Hartman and Viacom.

* * *

**CHAPTER V**

**WARNING: **This chapter contains a** LEMON. **If you do not want to read anything graphic, you'll have to skip a certain part of this section. When you see these letters: **SSS**, it's the start of the rape scene. You'll have to skim down until you see a second pair of the symbols. That means you've skipped the rape scene. If you're nasty like that and want to read it, go ahead.

_"… and so, the mighty Danny Phantom flew into the night sky, gliding in the air, looking at the city below, and smiling. He knew that once again, Amity Park was safe."_  
_Danny gazed at his six-year-old daughter Lainey Fenton and grinned as he seen her weary eyes beginning to close. His soft facial message touched her heart as he bent down and kissed her on the nose. When he pulled away, he realized that his daughter was looking at him dead in the eyes._  
_"Daddy," she started, her face showing a rare expression. Not of sadness or depression or pleading, but of mercy almost._  
_"Yeah, baby?" he responded to her._  
_"Teach me how to be hero," she stated softly, to which Danny beamed. He leaned in again and whispered, "one day, Little Lainey, when you're ready… I will."_

Lainey's eyes opened slowly as she stared up at the ceiling. She took a deep breath, realizing that what she had thought she seen wasn't reality, but only a dream of what she remembered. It's just like Jason had told her a month previous: Danny used to tell him and Lainey stories like that all the time. She never thought that they were real… until she found out she had shared the same gift as her dear ol' daddy did. She was fixated on learning everything she could about her alter-ego that her father could manage to teach. But this was the dawn of a new day. Just before that night, Vlad told her that he had something special planned out for her. Today was the day that she finds out what it is.

Her eyes moved to the window next to her bed. In the night sky, she spotted the stars and the moon, which were providing a light for her to see herself under the white sheets. She started counting the twinkling little gas balls in the sky, hoping that that would comfort her back into a slumber. But it did nothing but keep her awake. Specifically, "counting sheep" didn't do the trick either. Every time she tried to put herself back in her comatose state (metaphorically, of course), she would think: What exactly does Vlad have planned out for me?

Surely those noises she had been hearing for the past weeks had something to do with it. She silently cursed herself for not being a little snoop and not eavesdropping on him. For hours she tossed and turned her mind not clear enough to fall into her pit of darkness. She needed some kind of motivation, and at this rate, she'd take anything, anything at all. Before she knew it, the moon and the stars were gone and the sun was rising in the morning sky, and just before she could get back to sleep too…

A shiver rushed down her spine as the temperature in the room dropped. She thought to herself that obviously, Vlad was in the room. Her estimation was proven correct as Vlad appeared at the end of her bed. In his alter-ego form, he looked somewhat like a vampire with his blue skin, his red eyes and his fangs. He stood before her, arms crossed in a stance that indicated he was preparing to speak.

"Dear child, as I have told you the previous days before, today you receive your surprise." He placed his hands around the bed frame and leaned against it as he continued. "I sure hope you're excited for it."  
"Not as excited as the thought of getting out of here," she shot back.  
"Which will never happen, unfortunately," Vlad pretended to pout. "Now, come child. I'll show you where the surprise is."

He lifted his right hand from the bed frame and held it out toward the teenager's small one. Lainey stared at the man's hand as if bugs would begin to crawl out of it at any second. Her eyes led up to his face, which contained a wide grin, the kind that you'd give to a younger child to let them know that you're a friendly person and that you'd do no harm. Despite her conscience telling her no, she took his hand and stood from her bed, following after him as he led her out of the room. Lainey had no idea where she was going or what was going on, but she figured, "what other kind of harm could Vlad really do to her besides attach an electric bracelet on her?"

They walked down the main hallway, the same one that Lainey used to gain access to the rest of the house that she was authorized to enter, the walls painted with a blood red. The carpeting looked more or less like something Queen Elizabeth would have in her… castle? The chandeliers overhead were glimmering with shining lights, fresh light bulbs appeared to be in them based on how bright they were. They turned the corner, heading down the staircase toward the lower levels, which then led them from the dining room to the kitchen and the kitchen to the basement. As Lainey trailed down the steps, she almost tripped as she decreased her stride and Vlad continued at his pace. He turned, a grumpy look on his face, and scowled, "keep up."

Lainey nodded and continued to follow after him. The environment around her grew tenser than ever with each step that she'd taken. She began to feel her stomach churn and butterflies flutter around inside. She started to have second thoughts about what she had pieced together in her head moments before. Vlad could do more harm to her if he tried. That was her biggest phobia. She was practically waiting to die. And for what cost? Why did Vlad even want her anyway-not that she wasn't an important person-but still? Why did Vlad want her specifically and not Jason? Why was she so special? Matter of fact, why now-out of all of these years-did Vlad want her? So many questions related to these zoomed through her brain as she nearly trudged down the steps, each one bringing her closer to her surprise, each one tying a knot in the pit of her stomach tighter and tighter… each one bringing her one step closer to unimaginable death.

She closed her eyes, not being able to bear what she was about to see next…

And when she opened them, she gasped in horror.

The lab almost looked exactly like her father's, but there were observation tables with metal cuffs sitting off to the side, the Ghost Portal was on the far west wall, the ghost hunting equipment… there wasn't any, but there were different gadgets around, possibly the ones that her father had told her about previously, the ones used in the attempts to destroy her father years prior. And there, all the way on the far north wall, was what Vlad had been working on forever: the cloning equipment, the same kind that was used on her father. God only knows what had come out of it…

The realization finally slapped Lainey in the face, hard. Vlad has always wanted a half ghost child, and while he still tried to get his own son, he'd also prefer a daughter. But it turns out that she was the only daughter to come from the world famous Danny Phantom. Vlad knew that Lainey would turn down Vlad's attempts to steal her away and sway her into becoming his half ghost daughter willingly, so he fixed up the old cloning equipment that Dad had ruined years ago and upgraded it to where it was up and running again. Though Vlad had never tested it to see if it worked, Lainey feared that she would be his first subject, and if something went wrong… if something went wrong…

Lainey's eyes grew teary and the satin white walls that were once so clear began to distort into blurry little blots. This whole time, all Vlad wanted was to keep her alive just so he could create a different form of her, a puppet, an apprentice, in order to destroy the world. He would lock the real Lainey away and use her clone as a decoy to everyone else on the entire planet. Her clone would destroy everyone and everything in Amity Park, and then it would spread throughout the states, then eventually, the world. Then he would destroy the decoy and use the real Lainey as his scapegoat; the one who would take the fall. It was rather ironic; a man who had devoted almost his entire life to helping everyone in the world has a child who is about to destroy it. This whole time, all she was… a pawn in Vlad's little chess game. And right now, Vlad had her in a check. He was about to take her king. He was seeking to become a god on earth and Lainey… whether she liked it or not…

Lainey was in the center of it all.

Lainey was the only thing standing between Vlad and the people of the world.

Lainey was the only one who could save it…

… Lainey was the only one who could annihilate it.

"Do you like it?" he cackled his evil, little laugh right in her face. "I dare say, it took forever to work on it."  
Lainey snatched her hand away from his right when they had stopped short of the cloning machine. He turned abruptly, giving her a soft smile, before asking:  
"Child, what on earth are you doing?"  
"I know what you're trying to do," she hissed, "you want to clone me, use it to terminate the people of the world… and then use me to take the fall. Well, I won't do it! If this is the only thing standing in your way, I refuse to become your doormat!"  
"You can make anything look ugly. Think about it: everything in the world could be yours. You can be queen and I will be king. I promise you riches, I promise you your dreams, I promise you everything that you could ever ask for. But first, you need to do this tiny thing for me."

He stopped and turned toward the keyboard behind him right next to the machine, punching in a few keys and out of the corner of Lainey's eye, she could see the keyboard glow green, like in the pattern of a heartbeat. The machine's lights suddenly began to blink as the cloning device had activated and the air-sealed door opened by itself. Vlad turned back to her, face growing a sickening smile. He was enjoying every minute of Lainey's grief, every second. And he has been since he had Skulker kidnap her and bring her to him. All this time, all these weeks, Vlad has always sat behind a monitor, watching her, smiling…

That evil smile…

That evil fucking smile…

She was disgusted with seeing it on his face any longer!

She was about to take it off.

"No!" she screamed as she dashed toward the ecto-gun on the other side of the room, softball sliding into the table, and aimed it right at the cloning machine. Sadly enough, in that split second, right when Lainey pulled the trigger, Vlad had activated his ecto-shield and the ecto-ray bounced off of it, sending it hurling toward the ceiling. A loud boom indicated that it had found its targeting point and crashed against it high about them. Vlad fired up his electric pink ecto-ray and sent it flying towards Lainey, who dodged it easily. Whilst in her crouching position, Lainey tried to transform, but the process was interrupted by a shock surging through her body. She screamed in pain and fell to the ground, changing back to her original, human form.

_This bracelet,_ she thought, _is controlling my ghost powers too. I completely forgot! Shit! How am I going to fight him now?!_

"Give it up, child," the male hybrid taunted the young girl, hovering in the air directly over her as if he were her god, "I was stronger than your father and I'm stronger than you. You can't beat me, just like your father couldn't."  
"Leave him out of this!" she yelled and pulled the pins on two ecto-grenades, tossing them straight at his feet. The beeping and blinking green light indicated its detonation, and soon afterward, the grenades exploded, sending up foggy clouds of smoke, but Vlad stepped out of them simply, as if the grenades didn't even affect him. He snagged his hand toward the collar of her shirt, but she quickly threw herself out of his reach and shuffled under the table containing the ghost hunting equipment, worming her way to the other side of it, and flipping it over, sending the equipment crashing to the floor. Vlad backed up, frightened that the equipment would land on his toes, and snarled at the girl.

As he jumped over the table, reaching for her, she kicked herself away from him, grabbing a mini ecto-gun secretly, and as he got closer, she aimed at his hands and fired. He cried out as he thrust his hand back, examining it. Upon this, his face turned into a darker shade of blue.

_This isn't helping anything,_ Lainey told herself. _The only thing I'm doing is angering him even more with every move I make. I have to change my tactic, show him something he's never seen before; from me or my father._

"Do you really think you can defeat me at my own game?" Vlad asked her concededly. "I'm unstoppable."  
"Yeah," Lainey mumbled, slowly rising herself to her feet, "so am I."

And with that, Lainey's eyes aimed toward the ground as she dove for the ecto-bazooka and fired at the cloning equipment. Vlad's baffled facial expression turned right toward it just when the ecto-ray struck it.

"No, no! No!" he cried as he ran toward it, not soon enough before it exploded in his face. Lainey had taken the liberty at firing at everything else as well, destroying each and every one of his possessions hastily. Right and left, booms and explosions were sounding off. Smoke nearly covered the room, some of it attaching itself onto Lainey's face, gristle and grime, but she didn't care. She was on full adrenaline rush. She was exterminating everything.

Vlad did his best to stop her by dashing toward her, pushing the bazooka to where it aimed at the ground, but Lainey used her elbow and shoved him away, getting him in the chest, and he stumbled back, staggering, barely able to reconcile his balance. Lainey's breath grew sharper and sharper as she shot at everything. Once there was nothing else to destroy – once Vlad's equipment was completely destructed – she aimed the bazooka at him.

"I'm getting out of this hellhole," Lainey growled, "one way or another."

Vlad swayed his hand behind his lower back, quietly firing up his ecto-ray, before attempting to lure Lainey into a trap.

"My dear child…" he began before she interrupted him.  
"I'm _not_ your _fucking_ child! I'm the daughter of Danny Phantom, world famous superhero, Savior of the Ghost Zone! You are just another one of God's leftovers."  
"Such painful words," Vlad shook his head, "and yet, it rarely affects me at all."  
"Tell me how to get this fucking bracelet off!"  
"I've told you before child, if you've at all the will to listen," Vlad stated nonchalantly, "there is no taking it off. I told you that once it is on, it will be nearly impossible to remove."  
"What kind of contraption is this?!"  
"One that allows me to monitor your every move. Unfortunately for me, that didn't turn out how I had planned it to, hmm? I suppose that there isn't anything else to do with you, taking in mind the fact that yet again my cloning equipment is ruined. I suppose you and your father don't know the meaning of the adjective mannerly."  
"My father and my brother and my mother will stop you! They always have! And with any luck, Aunt Jazz and Uncle Tucker will help just as well!"  
"That's where you're wrong. I knew something of this sort would happen; when you'd finally retaliate and claim yourself a self-defender. So I've provided a back-up plan. Let's just say that your father and the rest of your family is worth a million bucks."

Lainey slowly lowered the bazooka and her eyebrows joined together, a look of concern flashing upon her face. Her heliotrope eyes grew shiny from the reflection of the fluorescent lights above her and her cheeks began to burn up in fear. What did he mean her family was worth a million dollars? Could it be metaphorical? Is he talking about a… bounty?

"What do you mean?" Lainey finally uttered, her frightened voice nearly quivering behind her blush pink lips.  
"I mean that a war is rising in the Ghost Zone, a war that is very much linked to your family, and those dearest and close to you. A bounty has been placed on your father's head (bear in mind that your mother and your brother and your aunt and uncle have one too, but none of them are nearly as high as your father's.) He will have to fight to find you. Let's just hope that no one in the Ghost Zone sees him. They are preparing for his arrival, and if he doesn't come, then they will search for him. As for you…"

Vlad prepared to silently attack…

"… you have to have something else to offer me since you've destroyed my equipment, and since you have too much of a leveled-head to join me willingly, I'll just have to put you in a state of trauma."

With that, Vlad whipped his hand out, palm facing toward her, and fired at the bazooka, knocking it out of her hand and sending it clear across the room. Lainey shot back, taken by surprise, and while she was distracted in her own little mind, deciding to find the right time to react, Vlad darted toward her, gripping her wrists and shoving her up against the wall behind her, slamming the back of her head against it. Lainey yelped as she felt her brain jolt against the inside of her skull and the numbness began to sweep throughout her whole entire body, starting from her head. While this was not enough to knock her unconscious, it was enough to temporarily paralyze her, causing her to stiffen… to not move… to not think. Just to lie there, hopeless and worthless, her vision blurry, seeing two, significantly impaired.

**SSS**

Vlad lowered her down to the ground, making sure her back rested comfortably on the tile floor, and he changed back into his human form as he worked at the zipper of his black dress pants. Lainey merely lied there, eyes as blank and dark as the clouds of a thunderstorm. She didn't feel like moving. She was drifting in her own little world. She was in too much pain to fight against him anymore.

She had given up.

She felt her jeans being fondled as her waistline became less harnessed and everything became loose. Vlad had unbuttoned her pants and pulled down the zipper, revealing her black underwear. He rubbed his erected groin, moaning as he hardened himself a little bit more at the sight of the young teenaged girl nearly half naked in front of him. It made him nearly gasp in desperation. It had been achingly too long since he's had such a blissful feeling swim upon the general mood of his body to get his adrenaline pumping. For a while, and a long span of his age, he had never imagined sleeping with someone, but then he began to feel that ache once more, that unbearable itch… and it was just too deep not to scratch.

He slipped the jeans down over her thighs and calves and discarded it off to the side once the material was past her feet. He then did the same to his pants and then, without hesitation, revealed his penis from his set of Packers boxers. Lainey was too emotionless to even pay attention. She didn't acknowledge the manhood of the terrorist upon him. She didn't acknowledge anything around her. She didn't even acknowledge what he was about to do to her. She just stared at the ceiling and died in her memories.

_"… and so, the mighty Danny Phantom flew into the night sky, gliding in the air, looking at the city below, and smiling. He knew that once again, Amity Park was safe."_  
_Danny gazed at his six-year-old daughter Lainey Fenton and grinned as he seen her weary eyes beginning to close. His soft facial message touched her heart as he bent down and kissed her on the nose…_

The next article to be removed from her body was her underwear. She could tell because one minute, her butt was moderately comfortable based on the fact that a thin piece of material was shielding it from being overcome with a cold flash. And the next, she felt her skin touch the cold floor. But even then, she didn't move, didn't utter a word… nothing.

_When he pulled away, he realized that his daughter was looking at him dead in the eyes._  
_"Daddy," she started, her face showing a rare expression. Not of sadness or depression or pleading, but of mercy almost._  
_"Yeah, baby?" he responded to her…_

Vlad looked past the small black-colored curls of pubic hair she had near her lower region. It didn't affect him at all. It didn't disgust him even in the slightest. It just turned him on even more than how he had been before. He positioned himself right before her vaginal opening…

_"Teach me how to be hero," she stated softly, to which Danny beamed. He leaned in again and whispered, "one day, Little Lainey, when you're ready… I will._"

With that last and final thought in Lainey's mind, Vlad plunged into her. It was only then that Lainey had snapped out of her thoughts as she screamed, tears pricking her eyes. Vlad didn't give the slightest of a thought that Lainey was still a virgin, for he continued to force himself into her. As he pulled his shaft out from within her, he realized that streaks of blood had shimmered and glistened in the light. Obviously, he knew it belonged to Lainey, but it still didn't stop him from forcing himself. He penetrated her once again and she continued to shriek.

"Stop, oh God, please stop!" she cried as she felt him plunging in deeper and deeper. He was burying himself inside of her, she could feel him. He was grunting, too, to seal the deal. Her walls began to squeeze his member, which made him want to go faster… harder… longer.

She couldn't take anymore.

She felt as if she were being ripped in half.

Her lower region burned like it was set aflame.

She was weeping horribly.

She just wanted the pain to go away.

But despite her cries and pleas, Vlad only kept going and going, each thrust digging deeper into her, so deep that Vlad could see the lump in her lower abdomen where the tip of his erection was targeting. He merely kept going and going; Lainey cried out one last time, but instead of yelling at Vlad to abort his actions, she looked at the camera in the far right-hand corner (how had she not noticed that before?), eyeing the scene, watching everything that was going on, and she reached for it, hoping that behind the lens someone, somewhere, could see what was happening to her. For no particular reason at all, the next thing she cried out was:

"Jason… Dad… Mom… somebody… anybody… help me!"

She knew that wherever they were, they were unlikely to hear her. But she figured, why not give it a shot? She no longer felt the pain that she had felt at the beginning, but he still kept going. He didn't stop even when her yells turned into soft sobs… and those then turned into whimpers… and those turned into gasps. Finally, she was silent. She uttered not a single word. She was back in the same stance that she was in at the very beginning, dead to the world itself. She accepted the fact that there was no longer a point in saying anything anymore. Her innocence was gone. She was no longer a virgin. She had lost something that she knew she would never be able to retrieve.

She stopped fighting.

Vlad continued to thrust into her… harder… faster. Lainey could practically _feel_ his balls slamming into her. The heat coming off of his sweaty, humid body had explained just the amount of hard work that he had put into his efforts. He progressed at this rate until he felt himself release his seed into her, screaming out in blissfulness as his climax relieved him. Lainey felt his sperm inside of her, warm and gooey. She hated it, and hated herself for allowing this to happen. He collapsed on top of her, counteracting his weight, resting upon her for only a second. When he was able to stand again, he slipped his boxers and his dress pants back on. He didn't bother to dress Lainey. He figured if she didn't want to freeze, she'd snap out of her thoughts and dress herself when she was ready to do so.

**SSS**

He readjusted his tie before he cleared his throat, walking toward the staircase. Placing his right foot on the first step going up, he turned his neck to the right and looked at Lainey through the corner of his eye. With a half-hearted smirk, he said:

"You see what happens when you don't listen to your master?"

And with that, he started up the stairs and into the kitchen, shutting the basement door behind him. Lainey continued to pant and gasp as she lied on the tile floor like a broken twig on a sidewalk outside. When she had the energy to do so, she slowly climbed up into a sitting position, taking notice that her vagina had a terribly sore feel to it, and leaned over, upchucking most of the foods she's eaten since she's resided in the hellhole Vlad stuck her in. She coughed, little tiny bits of vomit still flying out onto the ground. She took a few deep breaths as she went to wipe her mouth, but stopped abruptly when she got a good look at her hand. Blood… it was covered in blood… her blood. She looked down to notice a large pool of it bleeding out from her vagina. She gasped, her eyes widening, her heart stopping, her pulse slowing. Was it even normal to bleed out so much? She snagged her panties and kicked herself away from the blood trail, placing her feet in the correct leg holes of the underwear and pulling it up to her waist, adjusting it so that it rested comfortably on her waistline. Then she grabbed her jeans and slid them on as well, buttoning them and pulling up the zipper. She continued to breathe in and out, slow at first, but picking up at a steady pace with each passing second. Once she had finally calmed her heart rate, the realization finally hit her. She was raped. She was raped… and she did absolutely nothing about it to save herself! She could've fought against him! But instead, she gave into what she thought was the inevitable and just let him at it! Why? Why would she not try to stop something that she could've prevented?

When these thoughts flew around in her head, she buried her face in her hands and began to sob. They started out soft, but then grew harder and harder. She cried and cried, and she didn't even care if Vlad heard her. She didn't even think he cared if she were crying at all. What's done is done.

She knew that for sure.

ZZZ

The night settled in, the previous day resting, the sun setting fully beyond the horizon and the stars peeking out from the dark, indigo sheet of the night sky. The moon let off a soft blanket of a white light among the land beyond it. From a window, Jason stood, his arms crossed, leaning against the windowpane, gazing at the stars above with bloodshot eyes. He was high, yet again… and he wasn't thinking about anything in particular. He felt that he had no other choice. Smoking was the only thing that he was able to clear his mind.

_Where are you, sis?_

He closed his eyes, cutting off his vision from the real world, allowing himself to drown in his memory. He remembered when he was 13. At the time, Lainey was 11. He and his family went to the Amity Park Shopping Mall to get Lainey a Christmas sweater, since Lainey didn't really get much for Christmas, and Jason and Danny got a boatload. Back then, Danny and Sam were on a tight budget. Danny was attempting to get a job in construction since his lifelong goal of becoming an astronaut didn't work out too well and Sam was struggling to become a wildlife photographer, so she quickly switched her career to an intern at an interior design and planning office. They're jobs were nifty, yes, but in the very beginning while starting from the bottom, they didn't make enough money to manage themselves while providing for the children at the same time. But Sam and Danny talked it through and pulled their money together, shuffling it over to the side and with Sam knowing all the places that contained the best deals, they were able to get a decent enough supply of presents for everyone in the family. All, except for Lainey, and even though they were somewhat more of a Jewish (because of Sam, of course), Sam decided to give into the Christianity religion, as she had enjoyed Christmas a lot more than she had enjoyed Hanukkah growing up. Something about her thought that caroling around a lit-up tree with decorations and wrapped goods beneath it gave her a lot more of a good impression than singing in Hebrew and lighting the Menorah one day at a time for a little over a week. Plus that Star of David that her mother and father provided for her was so unholy, it was almost God awful. So contrary to the whole Hanukkah affair, the family decided to pick out a nice, comfy little sweater for Lainey to wear whenever she'd pleased. While Sam and Danny went inside to look at the sweaters for her, Jason was given the job of watching Lainey to make sure that she didn't run off. But as Danny and Sam were in the store, Jason was distracted by the new video game that had recently come out, and he eyed the poster hanging on the window of GameStop. It was a zombie killing game, his very favorite. When he turned back to check on Lainey, she was no longer by his side. His eyes widened and he panicked, completely freaking out, darting his eyes right and left to figure out which group of people did Lainey get swallowed up in. It couldn't have been the one on the right, directly where GameStop was, because Jason would've seen her walk by him. But then again, he was pretty distracted by the poster.

His first instinct was to dash into one of the crowds and search through it, hopefully stumbling upon her. But instead, he ran into the store that his parents were scoping through, legs as fast as light-speed, and he screeched to a halt when he seen their heads in the girls' section of the store. He rushed over to them and targeted his mom, stopping in front of her and tugging at her shirt. Sam turned her gaze from the furry, pink Christmas sweater decorated with blue Christmas trees, red stars and little multi-colored presents with bows hanging on the rack to her son below her.

"What? What's the matter, sweetie?"

Jason was panting, adrenaline well over its limit, and once he could catch his breath, he explained: "Lainey's run off!"

"What?!" Danny exclaimed turning toward him. "What do you mean Lainey's run off?!"  
"I mean she's run off. She was next to me for one second, then I got distracted by this new game that was going to come out and…"  
"A new game?! You let Lainey out of your sight… for a new game?! Jason James Fenton...!"  
"Mom, listen to me! I think she ran off towards the north side of the store! If we hurry, we could still be able to catch up with her!"  
"Sam, stay here," Danny raised a hand out and clasped it around her wrist, reassuring her off the situation. "Don't move. I'll find Lainey."

Danny rushed off out of the store and stopped about midway, searching right and left. He decided to take the route more taken: the right. He worked his way down toward the north side of the store and searched for a young girl with pale skin, heliotrope colored eyes, raven colored hair and a chubby little nose. He could also identify her by her outfit. It was pretty unique, made by Sam's grandmother when she [Sam] was about Lainey's age: an amethyst-colored vintage sweatshirt with knitted fabric, denim blue pants and a pair of black snow boots.

Surely with her outfit, it'd be a plus in being able to see her. That wasn't the problem.

The problem was the capacity of people in the mall itself.

Many civilians had been shopping around, entering and exiting multiple different stores: toy stores, clothing stores, fashion stores, electronic stores…even the Apple store was having Christmas specials. Danny's heart began to race, beating at his chest so hard, he was afraid it might fall right out. His breathing turned heavy. His anxiety rose. How on God's green earth was he supposed to find his daughter with all these people around? Unless he…

Unless he used his ghost powers.

But even though everyone knew who Danny Phantom really was, transforming in public would cause a scene. That was the last thing that he needed. So he made his way to the indoor garden area and ducked into a bush, going ghost before turning invisible and gliding into the air.

Now where on earth is she?

He flew over the balcony that gazed over the lower level of the mall. To his right, the active escalator's made the same rumbling sound that they always did. Not only because of the motor underneath it, but also because of the fact that so many people were standing on it, too many almost. He flew down, looking and listening to anything. His eyes scanned the crowd up and down. There wasn't any sign of her.

Lainey, where are you?! Damn it, where?!

He flew all throughout the crowd, people casting their glances upward as he flew past, wondering where the sudden wind that brushed through their hair had come from. Danny at first thought he spotted his daughter, but when he glided down closer to the young figure to see her face, he realized that it wasn't.

The hybrid's eyes grew wide, frantically whipping around, in all directions, looking to find her. She wasn't around, nowhere in his view.

Oh, shit… oh, shit!

He said a silent prayer. To God or to anyone that he'd find his daughter.

In then he saw her, pivoting around, and by his interpretation, she had been searching for her family.

"Dad!" she called out, "Dad!"

Danny breathed a sigh of relief and flew down to her, ducking and changing back before he grabbed her right bicep, not too hard, but stern enough to show her that he meant business. He whirled her toward him so that her face was glancing into his angry blue eyes. At the sight of this, her heliotrope ones grew wide. His face was covered in sweat, as was his clothing. Lainey could swear that she could see steam rise from the very top of his head. His face, which was once pale white with fright, was now as red as a tomato. He went from being frightened to being very, very distraught.

"Don't you ever, EVER run off like that again! Do you understand me?!" he snapped at her.  
"Yes… yes," Lainey's lips quivered as her the rim of her orbs welled up in tears. Her voice was shaky, and clearly, she was scared of how aggressive he sounded.  
"You had us so worried! Why would you do that?!"  
"I'm sorry…"  
"You could've been kidnapped, and we would've had no idea!"  
"I'm sorry!" she yelled at him, panting from the hundreds of people crowding around them. Danny moved back a little bit in surprise. The tone of voice that she had taken upon him was least expected by the father. "I'm sorry," she said more calmly. Then, as if she the dam could no longer hold the water in, the tears fell from her eyes, streaking down her cheeks, and landed on her shirt. She sniffed and her gentle tears began to turn into sobs.

Danny sighed and swore at himself for being so harsh with her. He didn't mean to nip at her; Lainey was just his pride and joy, aside from his son. If anything were to happen to either of his kids, he couldn't live with himself. He loved them too much to the point where words couldn't describe it. He would never forgive himself – never let himself live – if he lost his children.

"I'm sorry, baby," he mumbled, opening his arms, welcoming an embrace in which she had given him. Her face buried in her chest, the salt water casting down from her eyes escaladrenching his shirt. "I didn't mean to yell at you. I was very worried about you."  
She nodded, her hair tickling his chin, and she gave him an indication that she understood him. "God, Lainey. Please don't ever do that to me and your mother ever again. You scared us so much."  
"I'm really sorry, Daddy," she muttered.  
"I know. Come on," she pulled away as he took her by her hand, "let's go back to your mom and Jason."  
Lainey followed after him, past the crowd of people, up the escalator and to their family on the upper level.

When Sam turned to see them, she let out a slight chuckle, completely calm now that she'd seen Lainey in her view. Jason and she rushed over to Lainey and Sam bent down to her level, showering her in kisses and hugs. Danny smiled, seeing their faces flushed with happiness. As he looked down at Jason, he saw, in his eyes, the sign of betrayal… failure… disappointment. Jason was assigned the simple job of watching his own sister, and he couldn't even do that. It was never really easy for Jason as he was growing up. He suffered from severe asthma, since he was born premature (as was Lainey, but her lungs were a lot stronger than his were), he was badly dyslexic, couldn't tell the letter 'b' and 'd' apart or 'e' and 'c', therefore he wasn't really allowed to read much in kindergarten, and he never really had the proper health to do much as a younger child. But as he got older, his body became stronger. He couldn't even remember the last time he had an asthma attack. It might've been a few years previous, if that. His dyslexia never exactly went away, but it has gotten a lot better. And he didn't have any trouble breathing during ghost fights, so he was all good. But either way, little Jason felt like a failure in the family, a complete wash-out. He felt as if he didn't belong, as if he weren't worth his own family's time.

Danny gave him a reassuring smile, kneeling to his height, but his son refused to take his eyes off of the ground and to pick his head up. He [Danny] took his hand and raised Jason's head to face him, calmly telling him: "Hey, it's okay, son. It could've happened to anybody. It's not your fault."  
"Why does it feel like it?" he started to tear-up. "Why does this feel like my fault?"  
At the tone of his voice, Lainey and Sam turned to him and Sam stood to her feet, still holding her daughter's hand.  
"Because you were told to watch her, but you got easily distracted, and it's not a big deal. Nothing happened; Lainey's fine. She's not hurt and she wasn't abducted. Yes, you can look at all the things that could've happened to her, but the fact of the matter is that it didn't, and she's standing before us right now. She's safe."  
Jason looked at his sister, who only calmed him with her facial expression. She was beautiful, Jason had always known that. He never wanted to lose his sister. Him and she had a basic brother and sister relationship: they argued, they called each other names… sometimes Lainey would even slap him, but Sam had raised him to never dare to hit a girl, or a woman, in general, unless of course it was life-threatening. Their parents worked together to the best of their abilities to raise the two children properly, but it was hard. It's not that they expected them to always get along, but still. And Lainey and Jason weren't entirely that way all the time. Sometimes, Sam would catch Jason tossing Lainey up in the air and catching her, pushing her high up on a swing-set, going sledding with her in the winter time, buying her ice cream in the summer, and so on and so forth. He loved Lainey very much; he just had a different way of showing it.

Jason started over to his sister, and Danny looked back, watching as he stopped before his sister, and he began to talk.

"I'm sorry for not watching you, sister." He took her hand and held it in his, asking her: "Are you okay?"  
"Yes," she nodded.  
He leaned in and hugged her tight, rubbing her upper back, near her shoulder blades, and consoling her. Lainey guided her hands up to Jason's short, raven-colored locks, twirling her fingers in them, a habit that she's had as an infant, inherited from her mother.

Then, Jason said something that Lainey herself would never forget:

"I love you so much, sis… more than you'll ever know or even understand."

Lainey had shed a tear and looked at the ceiling, whispering back to him, "I love you too, big brother… so much…."

Jason opened his eyes to the sound of heavy footsteps trailing from the hallway into the room he was currently standing in.

"What are you doing?" a familiar voice asked him; his father, of course. Who else would it be?  
"You think Lainey's… you think she's alright?"

Jason's voice was hollow, almost initially in monotone. It worried Danny, gave him the feeling that Jason wasn't currently normal in the slightest.

"What have you been doing, son?"  
"Nothing, Dad."  
Danny scoffed. "That's a fucking lie."  
"What else am I supposed to say?!"  
"How about the truth?!"  
"Fine. You want the truth?"

Jason whirled around from .leaning against the windowpane and revealed his bloodshot, red eyes to his father. Strangely enough, his father didn't draw back in shock or even throw out the stupidly obvious question: "What have you done?" Instead, he said:  
"Shoulda' figured…"  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jason gritted his teeth.  
"I think you know what that's supposed to mean. Son, you've been smoking weed like it's your life. Mildly at first, but ever since Lainey's been taken, you've been relying more and more on it to release you from reality. I'm telling you right now: pot is not your friend. It doesn't solve your problems, it doesn't rewind time, so what's the point in doing it?"  
"How can you hate against something you've never even tried?"  
"Because whether marijuana kills you or not, it's still a drug, and an illegal one! Smoking it only makes you look stupider than you actually are for just smoking it at all."  
"Are you calling me dumb?!"  
"You know I didn't say that!"  
"Oh no," Jason stepped forward, "but you were thinking it, weren't you?!"  
"You know what, son?" Danny held out his arms defensively. "Maybe I was, and maybe I wasn't. But I didn't say it, so doesn't that count for something?"  
"You know damn well that I know what I'm doing…!"  
"You're 16-years-old! I don't think you have the slightest clue what you're doing, but I know you are very smart for your age, sometimes too smart for your own good! You know this is wrong!"  
"What else can I do, Dad?! Lainey is GONE and she's NOT COMING BACK!"  
Danny stood his ground and closed his mouth, breathing hard through the nostrils of his nose. Jason backed away for a second, recollecting everything that he had just said in his mind. He shook his head, blinking perpetually, trying to clear his head at whatever was nipping at it.

What have I done?

"Dad… no… I… I didn't mean… I didn't mean that… I'm sorry."

Danny shook his head, holding up a hand to silence him, telling him not to continue.

"You don't have to explain yourself. We both know it's more the weed talking than it is you."  
"I really am trying to stop, Dad. I swear, when this is all over, I will."  
"I know, son…. I know…"  
"We will find Lainey. She'll come home and…"

Jason was suddenly interrupted by the sound of glass smashing against a hard surface down followed by Sam's scream, all occurring in the lower level. Danny and Jason exchanged glances of wide eyes before dashing down the staircase and into the sitting room where Sam was supposed to be in. Inside, they found that the sound of shattering glass turned out to be a plate that Sam must've dropped onto the wooden floor. And Sam was sitting on the couch, in front of the laptop, which was set on the coffee table, and her hands were covering her eyes, like she was shielding herself from seeing a horrific scene in a scary movie. Jason walked over to the glass to examine it while Danny headed straight to Sam, sitting down next to her, draping his arm over her shoulders and pulling her into him.

"Sammy, baby, what's wrong?"

Sam, whose breath was raspy, had uncovered her eyes to reveal that her mascara and eyeliner was smeared and running along her cheeks. She had been crying. Whatever she seen must've been very devastating. She slowly turned her head to face him and, as if she were stunned, she shook her head, but only one centimeter to the left and right. The movement wasn't that big. It's almost as if she were too shocked to shake her head properly.

"Sam, what's the matter? What did you see? What happened?"

Danny looked at the laptop to see that Windows Media Player was on its stop screen, and the option, "Play Again," was available. Danny steered his eyes back into her direction, but her face was still written with negative messages, and she yet again shook her head, as if she were reading his mind. He wanted to play the clip again, and she was too startled to find out what his reaction would be to it.

"Don't… don't play it again, Danny. I'm afraid… I'm afraid of what might happen."  
"I have to see what made you so upset."

Sam looked over at Jason, who now had the broom and dustpan out and was cleaning up the shards of glass that Sam left on the floor. He met her gaze before veering off to the kitchen to dump the articles of glass into the trash, putting the products away before meeting his parents in the sitting room again. He, too, was just as curious to find out what had upset his mother so much, and it appeared to Sam that neither of them were going to let it die down. If it caused her to scream, caused her to break a dish, then it was bad.

Danny was about to tap the mouse pad, but Sam caught his wrist and frantically gestured a 'no' to him.  
"For God's sake, Danny, don't watch the clip!"  
"Why not?"  
"Please don't! Just don't!"  
"But I have to see…"  
"No!"

Jason had had enough of the distractions; he wanted to see what was on that clip. While his parents were caught up in arguing and were intentionally blinded by Jason's actions, he quickly pressed "Play Again" and the clip started from the beginning.

"No!" Sam cried, standing to her feet and moving across the room. Danny and Jason leaned in, and for a few seconds, the environment was very unfamiliar to them. It was a laboratory, but it looked similar to Danny's. There was only one thing different about it: the equipment on the north side of the room. It was equipment that Danny has seen before, but only vaguely remembers.

Where on earth have I seen that from?

Everything was almost so unique… until they seen a girl step into view, along with a man… that man… the man was so recognizable…

Danny's mouth turned into a snarl.

Vlad Plasmius.

And the girl, with pale white skin, purple eyes and raven hair… that was Lainey.

This was where she was.

Where they were…

She was alive.

"Vlad," Danny mumbled. This seemed to give Jason a very intrigued impression and he watched the video ever more closely. It had no audio, so it didn't help that they couldn't hear the conversation going on, but Jason tried his hardest to read their lips. He believe that they were talking about something to do with… cloning. He knew it… he knew it!  
There was a pause… and then Lainey made the ultimate sacrifice.

She darted to the other side of the room, the one in which contained the ecto-guns and weaponry, preforming the kind of slide that you'd see in softball, and grabbed one of them, firing at the machines that Danny had tried so hard to remember, destroying all of them. The camera caught the look on Vlad's face, and it was priceless, almost to die for. Behind the monitor, Jason and Danny were praising her.  
"Lainey!" Jason cried in happiness, proud to see that his sister was good at succeeding in strategy after all.  
"That's my girl," Danny smiled.

Then a fight broke out. Everything happened so fast: Lainey scooted underneath a table and flipped it over, knocking the equipment to the ground. Vlad got closer to her. Lainey sneaked a gun behind her back and kicked herself away from the elderly man. Eventually, Lainey ended up with an ecto-bazooka in her hands and had it aimed straight at Vlad. She had him caught between a rock and a hard place. From his position, there was no way he'd win. Vlad was saying something to her, but Jason couldn't make out what, considering the fact that his back was turned towards the camera, but whatever Vlad was saying had upset Lainey to the point where she lowered her bazooka slowly and basically became tied-up in his words.

"Lainey, what are you doing?" Jason whispered. "Shoot him."  
"Lainey, what's going on?" Danny asked aloud as if she were in the same room as him to answer. On the other side of the room, Sam was bracing herself, closing her eyes and covering her ears, for the bad part had yet to come.

That's when Vlad dashed straight toward her and Lainey appeared to have been distracted. He pushed her back up against the wall far behind her, making her drop the bazooka in the process, and the back of her head hit the tile. It obviously wasn't enough to knock her out, considering the fact her eyes were still open, but she was dazed. She looked as if she couldn't fight. She looked paralyzed.

"Lainey!" Danny and Jason cried out quietly.

They watched as Vlad lay her down upon the tile floor and put his hands near his crotch area, fumbling around and moving his hands and arms. At first, Jason and Danny weren't entirely aware of what Vlad was planning to do, until he started working at Lainey's jeans.

"Oh, God…" Jason started.  
"Shit," Danny mumbled.

Then, just as they have suspected and feared to have happened, Vlad managed to remove Lainey's pants. Followed by that, her underwear, and both articles were discarded. His pants were already down. Danny and Jason must have missed that in the confusion of what the video would present at the very beginning.

The worse part wasn't seeing Lainey and Vlad together.

The worst part had occurred right then and there.

Vlad had pushed himself inside of her, and through the monitor, Danny and Jason could see Lainey's face twist in pain. Her mouth formed a large 'O' and it didn't take a rocket scientist to interpret that she was screaming, and not because it was pleasurable experience for her. Her nails were practically digging into the skin of Vlad's back. Tears were flooding down her face, eyes puffy and bloodshot. She was in pain. She was crying.

And Vlad was the one inflicting it.

Jason wanted to skin him… he wanted to feed his entrails to his best friend's Cocker Spaniel dog.

Lainey was now reaching out to the camera and despite the fact that there was no audio, Jason knew what she was saying,

"Jason… Dad… Mom… somebody… anybody… help me!"

His only sister… being raped by a sick man, a pedophile… a maniac! And she was crying out for help, for anyone to help her, not just her father and her brother… for somebody to help her, and she wasn't one to speak much of God, but Jason was pretty sure she was calling out for him, too. But her screams were dead. Nobody heard her. Nobody cared. She was alone, all alone, being assaulted by a madman.

Nobody saved her.

"That… asshole… fucking pervert! Son of a bitch!" Jason yelled at the top of his lungs to the point where a vein was seen to pop out through his neck. In hearing this made Sam break down even harder into a cringing weep, sending her to her knees.

"Oh, Lainey," she cried, shaking her head in despair, "my baby! My baby girl was… she was… Oh, God, why?!" Jason stood to his feet, shoving the laptop aside off of the coffee table and on the floor below. Rage had consumed him. He could've sworn, for once, that he had seen red. He wanted to kill everything that he'd saw, he didn't care what or even who it was.

"Wait, wait! Jason…!" Danny quickly rose to his feet and tried to grab a hold of his son to restrain him from not only hurting himself, but others around him. He ended hurling a pillow from the loveseat all the way across the room, toward Sam, who quickly ducked to prevent it from knocking her upside the face and throwing her head back to hit the fireplace mantel behind her. She regained her composure and cautiously assisted Danny, clutching his wrists while Danny held his upper arms back.

"It's okay, baby," she whispered in chocked sobs. "It's okay. I know you're mad."  
"I'm gonna murder him! I'M GONNA FUCKING MURDER HIM!"  
"Son, you need to calm down!" Danny commanded.  
"Calm down?" Jason repeated. "Calm down?! CALM DOWN! He RAPED your daughter! My little sister was raped! And you're telling me to 'calm down'? What in the hell is your problem?! He violated your little girl, your guys' baby girl, okay? He deflowered your little Lainey-Boo. And you're just gonna sit there with your guy's heads up your own asses and fail to do anything about it?! How dare you!"  
"Jason!" Sam ceased the chaotic yelling coming from her 16-year-old son. "Jason… I know what happened, okay? I saw it."  
"What… that's it?! You just saw it… and that's it?! You aren't gonna do anything about it?!"  
"We don't even know where Vlad is, Jason! Any fast moves would be critical! We'd be risking her life right now if we even make one step!"

Jason stepped back, away from his father and his mother, panting through gritted teeth.

Fuck his father!

Fuck his mother!

Fuck the police!

Most of all, _fuck_ that _fucking_ pervert.

Jason couldn't wait… he hungered for the day…

The day that he gets his hands on Vlad.

The day that he gets to torture him.

The day that he gets to kill him.

* * *

**A/N: Question of the Chapter!**

_"What is the BEST video game you've ever played?"_

**PleaseR&R,**

**Vivalandra**


	7. Forget It

**IMMEDIATE WARNING: **This message is not for children under the age of 13. Excessive amounts of swearing. Viewer discretion is advised.

**Flames... flames everywhere. That's all I'm seeing and that's all I'm hearing. Honestly (pardon my French), this is so fucking ridiculous. If this is how the internet is going to treat me, I want zero part of it. I'm only 14 and people are telling me to kill myself over some stupid story, over pictures and much more. It's one thing if you want to make fun of the enormous size of my nose, but telling me to kill myself? Saying that I have a snobby attitude? Calling me a discriminative bigot? Fuck off. If you guys have nothing to do with your lives but sit there and flame people's story or call them names (regardless of ****_what they are)_**** you're not only a sick, disgusting person, you're a low-life, fucking idiot that has nothing else to do with their life but to sit behind a computer monitor or a cellular phone and flame away, calling people crude names. And don't worry if you've never said anything of the sorts to me, because these people know damn well who they are, especially if they're hate-greedy and want to happen to read my stories just to hate it. And just a message to them: you all are so... FUCKING... ridiculous. Seriously, grow... the FREAK... up. What are you? 5? 6? Maybe 7? If you have something that isn't constructive or nice to say about ****_any - _****and I do mean ANY - of my stories, go shove something up your ass and choke it up through your mouth because I don't want to hear it. You have something mean to say, but you just have that aching feeling to do so? You write in your little journal, you lock it up with your little butterfly key and you stick it under you bed. End of story.**

**And you know what else?**

**I'm not going to quit writing. :)**

**That's right. That was just a little rant to the haters. No big deal. I love my little Vivas, and if they're gong to flame my stories, they can go crawl back into their mother. **

**I love you guys! **

**Vivalandra**


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